BlazBlue: Cross Tag Isekai
by Storm Reaper VII
Summary: Ragna the Bloodedge has found himself in a bizarre new world... and he doesn't appear to be alone. Called at the plea to save this strange place he's been summoned to, Ragna teams up with the Persona Master: Yu Narukami, the wielder of the Insulator sword: Hyde Kido, and the Huntress-In-Training: Ruby Rose. Chaos and comradery await.
1. Prelude

_**BlazBlue: Cross Tag Rebellion**_

 _ **Prelude: The Four Outsiders**_

"Five days and still no sign of any threats," a young youth with spiky blond and black hair wearing a belted uniform examined with a sigh as he gathered water into a wooden bucket. The sun was setting off in the horizon, bathing the area in a light orange glow. "You think taking the shortcut was really worth it?"

"I hope so, cutting through the mountains was risky enough as it was," a silver haired youth in a black school uniform with a sheathed katana at his side answered in turn as he sat on the riverbank with a small fishing pole. "It's no wonder no one would try to go through there, with what we went through I doubt that your regular traveler would risk it."

"Which has me worried, Yu," the blonde said to him. "That area _was_ blocked off. Now that we've made it through there's a chance that something on this side could try to make it back; something that could try to attack the village. People could die if that passage is open and no one knows about it."

" _Everyone dies at some point Hyde; It's only a matter of when and what you do before then,_ " the other student said in response. Hyde was shaken by the coolness of his teammates words and stared at the other student in disbelief. "...At least that's what all of the people in those movies would say."

"Don't scare me like that, I almost thought we had another of those 'bleak view on life' types in our group," the Hyde said with a sigh. "Any bites?"

"Nope, I can see plenty of fish, but none of them are biting," Yu explained before he shook his head. "At least I have the _Knowledge_ to have an _Understanding_ of the _Diligence_ you need to fish in the wilds."

"What's that supposed to even mean?"

"That I know I'm not going to catch something before it gets dark," Yu said with a sigh. "I could always-"

"You are NOT electrocuting the water again; you know how hard it is to eat fish when every bite sends twenty volts onto your tongue?" Hyde was... less than pleased thinking back to the last time fish had been prepared.

"Well maybe if you had a higher **Spirit** , you'd actually be able resist it," Yu argued back before pulling out his fishing rod. "This means we're using up the last of the meat tonight after all."

"Sounds like someone could use some cheering up!" a young voice called as a young girl leaped out of the treeline above them and landed perfectly between the two.

"I know someone that clearly needs cheering up, but he's back at the camp," Hyde said with a smirk. "Hit the jackpot, Ruby?"

"Yep, managed to find a ton of berries and nuts to keep us going for a few days," Ruby told the two with a big smile. She was dressed in a black corset and skirt with white sleeves to serve as arm wear. On the back of her waist was a complex collection of metal that was able to shift to a weaponry state. "I've also got good news, I didn't see any monsters while I was out. I think we're in the clear!"

"I hope so... we still have a ways to go to the outland villages and there's a lot that could happen before then," Yu reminded as he rose from his fishing spot. "Come on, dinner's probably ready by now."

"Yahoo! Time for dinner!" Ruby exclaimed excitedly as she pumped her arms into the air.

"It's just campfire stew, not like it's anything special," Hyde reminded her as the trio began walking back. "Then again, I guess he is a good cook despite his appearance saying otherwise... Anyways, are you guys any closer to leveling up?"

"No, I think that since we've been traveling with each other our experience has been going up at the exact same rate," Yu told her. "Which means that if the monsters on this side of valley turn out to be too much for us to handle, we're in trouble."

"H-Hey, try and think positively," Ruby begged nervously. "I mean we've got our leader with us don't we? Remember what we had to fight through back inside the caves? I'm sure with him we could be able to cut through just about anything!"

"We only survived back there because he hit those damn things by surprise and it was his fault we ran into them in the first place," Hyde reminded realistically. "If this area's monsters are anywhere close to as strong as what we faced inside the cave, we could be in trouble."

"Yare yare daze, and you three always say _I'm_ the downer," came a new voice. This belonged to the oldest and the so called 'leader' of the group. The man in question was garbed in a red coat and had a black hakama with white outlines and metal plates on his shoes. He didn't appear to be armed, but everyone in his team knew better than to consider that a demotion; this guy was strong enough to stop a monster's charge with a single hand. Unlike the more silvery hair Yu had, this guy's hair was closer to a pure white.

"In our defense, you're usually the downer by a huge margin," Hyde told him. "Then again I guess you did start with a-"

"We know, we know; we've addressed this before," the leader said with a groan before pointing back to the path behind. "You three were out here for so long I had to come grab you. Come on, food's just about ready."

"Lead on Commander Ragna!" a playful Ruby said to him as she rose to her feet with a smile. Hyde and Yu gave each other a glance before sighing and following the two. "So... are we really out of meat?"

"If Yu didn't catch anything then it means we are," the Reaper told them. "No luck?"

"You're one to talk," Hyde muttered under his breath.

"None," Yu said as he promptly ignored Hyde. "I could have used my power, but then we'd have the same problem as last time."

"I'm for avoiding that if it's all the same to you," Ragna told him. "All in favor?"

"Aye," Hyde cast in agreement.

"Aye, only Nora would've loved have to eat fish like that," Ruby said, making everyone confused what she could have possibly meant.

Dinner at the campgrounds was a quiet affair, as was usual. All four of them merely sat around the campfire and enjoyed their dinner, not saying much of anything until the food had been cleared away and the dishes had been washed of what few food scraps remained. After that came the... interesting part of the evening.

"Alright, time to decide the watch order," Ragna said leaving everyone to glance at one another nervously. "I'll take first wa-"

"H-How about I take the first watch," Yu asked quickly, interrupting the Reaper. "I-I'll wake you up for the second and then Hyde can watch third, and Ruby can finish off the night."

"You sure about that?" Ragna questioned. "Look, I'm sure that-"

"I support Yu's plan of action!" Ruby cut in quickly.

"Agreed!" Hyde interjected, leaving Ragna to stare at the three of them.

"...I'll never understand any of you," Ragna muttered he went over to the team's magical backpack. What was so magic about said pouch was the amount of equipment it could carry and how weightless it would still remain. Putting the cleaned dishes inside of the thing and taking out four sleeping cots, Ragna tossed one to each of his team members. "Let's get some sleep then, we're going to continue heading east in the morning."

"Got it," Ruby said before whispering to Yu as Ragna set up his cot. "You're not waking him up are you?"

"Not a chance..."

 _*Later*_

Yu gave a small yawn as his night-watch continued approached its end. By now their campfire had already burned out and was little more than a few warm embers. Keeping his wits about him, he kept his hand placed firmly upon his katana as he watched the forest for signs of creatures of the night. At the moment though, all that there appeared to be out here were the crickets and the occasional owl. Glancing skyward, Yu then saw the position of the moon and realized that his portion of the watch was about to be over. Turning back to the camp, he headed over to Hyde's cot and-

"My shift already?" came a gruff voice that caused the teen to appear paralyzed with fear. Nervously smiling, he turned to face his unamused team leader.

"I... I was just about to come get you," Yu said, trying to play into his _Expression..._ which was currently the opposite of _Enthralling._

"Sure you were, that's why you headed straight for blondy's cot," Ragna muttered as he got out of his own sleeping arrangement. "For the record, my ears are a lot better than you're used to."

 _'So he heard Ruby whispering to me earlier,'_ Yu thought sadly as he headed into his own cot. _'I mean, I should be fine right? We managed to survive earlier, maybe it's gotten better after all...'_ Despite trying to reassure himself, it still took him a good while to ease his mind before he could finally fall asleep.

 _*Two Hours la-_

Of course as soon as he had...

 _ **"ROOOOOOOOOAAAAARRRR!"**_

"What the hell was that!?" Hyde shouted as he was rudely awoken by the bestial roar. Using his Exs, he summoned his blood red katana, _The Insulator,_ as he groggily got ready for a fight.

"Everyone get ready! Something's coming!" Ragna shouted as he raised his fists and got into a battle stance.

"Not again..." came a sigh as Ruby rose (get it?) to her feat, the collection of metal turning into a scythe before transforming into a sniper rifle once she realized that the enemy wasn't close enough to attack yet.

"This is why we have to try and stop him," Yu groaned as he took his katana out of his sheath before waving his hand. "Izanagi!" An other worldly being with a strange spear as a weapon and a black buckle longcoat as clothing came into existence behind him, its dull yellow eyes seeking out its master's target from behind its metal mask.

As soon as the four had prepared the tree's in front of them were instantly turned to splinters as another roar sounded this time as a collection. The approaching threat turned out to a bear of gigantic proportions. The thing stood at eight meters tall when upright and had razor sharp claws that hadn't even slowed as they cut through the wood. Odd fragments of bone appeared to be peaking out of its thick black fur, appearing tougher than any stone you could find.

"It looks tough, but we can still bring it down!" Ragna shouted as he prepared. Looking back to his team... he saw their glares, all of which were directed at him. Knowing what they were upset about, he grit his teeth. "It's not a disaster; it's a blessing in disguise! You want meat!? THERE IT IS!"

All three of them glanced at each other, all of them silently agreeing that they'd rather have gotten their sleep.

 _ **Author's Note (Please read, Omake at the end)**_

 _ **I already know what some of the responses are going to be; 'Another story Storm? Shouldn't you update some of your old stuff or finish your other projects first?' And to those people I say...**_

 _ **I'M POSTING THIS ON MY BIRTHDAY WITH A SECOND UPDATE SO I HAVE IMMUNITY! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!**_

 _ ***Ahem* In all seriousness this will be less of a story and more of a collection of drabbles that just so happen to form a story, like my RWBY posts (plug, plug). I know this story left a lot of questions, but that's why it's a prelude. You'll get your exposition dump next chapter.**_

 _ **Again, let me worry about the work load. ...Sides, I actually do better when I have more options. Those constant 'Awakening' burn outs? That's because I was lacking in variety and I made the promise to keep doing those chapters. I'm only human and pressure gets to me.**_

 _ **Sooo... For the format of these chapters, it's not too different than what I do with 'A Reaper's Game' or 'A Reaper's Awakening.' First part is the story won't be too long, 1500 to 3000 words... unless this get really requested to make full chapters, but I'll hold off for now. After that I'll do a short author's note like this and address any reviews I've gotten and give a few updates on my plans for the fic there. And now... comes an Omake which is a short humorous skit with no real bearing on the actual plot. Enjoy!**_

 _ **Shinto Shenanigans**_

"Hey Ragna," one Ruby Rose questioned the Reaper. "The three of us wanted to ask you something."

"Huh? I mean I guess you can, not sure what good my answer will do though," the Reaper admitted, knowing he was just as new to the world as the other three. Surprisingly, it was Yu to talk in Ruby's place.

"So... is it true that you've fought someone that called themselves Izanami?" the gray haired student asked.

' _Okay, that wasn't what I was expecting... or hoping for.'_ "...Yeah, must've made a passing reference at some point..." Ragna didn't look them directly in the eye. "She was one of the last opponents that I fought... my own sister."

"Y-You're own..."

While all three of them appeared visibly shaken at Ragna's news, he just thought it was the thought of having to commit such an unspeakable act as battling a younger sister... though if he ever let even the slightest bit of info about Jin slip, he'd have a lot to questions to defend himself from.

"That wasn't what I was expecting," Yu admitted. "But it does beg the question; what was she doing in both worlds?"

"Probably wasn't the same one, our worlds probably have some similarities in them. I mean we all speak the same language, even Ruby."

 _ **(Author's Note: WE BROUGHT BACK THE DUB!)**_

"Yeah, I guess you have a point," Yu said, acting a little more relaxed now. "It's not that odd that there aren't at least a few parallels, I mean Hyde's world is pretty close to mine aside from our fantasy aspects."

"Buuuuuuuuut that does cause a pretty big question. Does this make Ragna Izanagi then?" Hyde asked.

"Does that make me... come again?" Ragna asked. Yu was just left there with an expression that was continuing to darken. Apparently he'd already thought through this possibility, but he didn't want to acknowledge it.

"Wait, I don't get it," Ruby input. "What's all of this about an Iganazi?"

"Izanagi, and it's the name of my persona," Yu corrected her. "It's based off of a deity from Shinto mythology, he's known for creating the islands of Japan and birthing several other gods."

"Izanami is the same way, save for the fact that she later becomes a death goddess," Hyde said, having come from a closer world to Yu's. "But... in the story-"

"Izanagi and Izanami were brother and sister as well as spouses, I'm well aware," Ragna told them both not appearing pleased with the fact.

"Ick, incest," Ruby said, sticking her tongue out at the idea. Ragna merely shuddered at the thought of if _maybe_ his darkest suspicions of Jin had been true. "How do you know about them though?"

"My master used to tell me stories about them and the other old gods of mythology... Never really gave the whole Izanagi thing any thought though, even after I heard the name... must just be a coincidence." _'And as much as he'd grown, I doubt Jin was qualified for the role either._ '

"So no similarity then?" Ruby asked before getting a bright idea. "Oh! Let's ask Izamaki!"

"Izanagi..." Yu corrected once more, also doubling speaking the name as a summon.

"Well he's here, now what?" Ragna asked.

"Now we prove that he doesn't know anything and put this whole ridiculous mess behind us," Yu said, obviously dismissing this whole thing to nothing more than coincidence.

"..." Izanagi didn't say anything, remaining motionless as it floated behind Yu, staring deeply at Ragna.

"...This is unsettling," the Reaper bluntly told him.

"Come on, just try to talk to it!" Ruby asked.

"Just end this Yu, I want to eat soon," Hyde told them as his stomach grumbled.

"Fine..." Yu sighed. "Izanagi, do you know how you could be similar to Ragna. Is there any way that you two could be linked, that you're even similar?"

"..."

Then Izanagi did something unexpected. Taking its free hand, it moved it upwards and touched it to its metal 'face'. Everyone watched on with awe as it grabbed the mask and finally removed it after so long, revealing...

"Holy..." Ruby began.

"Shiiiiiit." Hyde crudely finished.

Aside from its familiar glowing yellow eyes, the Persona's true face was very much that of the Grim Reaper, as was the silver hair atop its head. Hyde and Ruby stared between the two before going to Yu for his reaction.

"...This explains... absolutely nothing," the silver haired sighed. "In fact, it leaves more questions out in the open."

Nodding in agreement, Hyde and Ruby watched as the Persona then levitated from behind Yu to in front of him so that it was standing before Ragna as the two glared at each other. The persona then spoke, its voice was an echo like always.

" _I am thou, and thou art I."_

Ragna stared at the figure in front of him for a long moment as he processed what it had meant. Coming up with an answer, he gave it a snarky smirk and put a fist on his hip to give himself a moodier and more rebellious look.

" _You're not me."_

 _ **So obviously the two are going for more different tones, though there will still be some humor in the first part.**_

 _ **Until Next Time Everyone! Ciao!**_


	2. Prologue

_**Prologue: The Summoned**_

' _Fire... Why does my entire body feel like it's on fire?...Am I even supposed FEEL? ...Go figure, even erasing yourself from existence is a complete pain in the ass. Does this mean I've ended up in Hell after all? Heh, nah... The devil isn't unfortunate enough to deal with the likes of me.'_

A muscle atop his brow twitches. The movement is light, but the pain is piercing. An unprepared soul would have been driven mad by this alone, but he'd been tempered and tested through combat and life. It meant almost nothing to someone of his caliber. An eye twitches before finally opening. His entire eye stings painfully as his vision adjusts, but he manages to keep it open. His eyes then land on a wooden ceiling.

' _Congrats, you now know you're indoors Ragna,_ ' the Grim Reaper glumly thought to himself as he shifted his head only slightly, fighting the urge to wince at his neck's soreness. ' _...And apparently in a bed. Enough of this._ '

Throwing the bed-sheets off his person, Ragna then realized another issue; his clothing. Instead of wearing his normal black and white hakama with his prized red coat over it, he was instead dressed in a plain white robe top and loose fitting white pants. The sleeves were short, enough so that it showed off both of his artificial arms; the more natural looking left one... and the midnight black right one. He was barefoot and his feet felt cold the moment he put them on the cobblestone floor.

"That's concerning," he said aloud, finally using his voice. Against his better judgment, he opened the top of the pants... the underclothing he wore was not his usual boxers. "...WAY too concerning."

Knowing how crimson his face probably looked, he glanced around his current surroundings. There were three beds besides his own, each of them housed a person in their sheets. One was a young man with gray hair, another was a boy with spiky blonde hair with odd black highlights, and the third was a dark haired girl. All three of them were sleeping peacefully and looked to be the age of teenagers though none of them looked at all familiar to Ragna the Bloodedge.

"...This just keeps getting weirder and weirder. I know Rachel's done her share of keeping me out of the loop, but this is insane. Hey Rabbit, you listening to me? You're a total bitch ya damn loli! I bet you get off on tryin' to lead men on, ya flat chested bloodsucker!" He paused, his glare at the ceiling something fierce. "Nothing eh? Knowing your pride there's no possible way you could have ignored that... So what is this then?"

Taking a second look at his surroundings, he saw that the room was lit by lanterns positioned around each of the walls. The candles inside looked like were about to lose the last of their oil, meaning they'd been lit for sometime now. This place had no windows, only a single wooden door with some sort of magic circle in front of it; a seal.

"...This ain't Ars Magus," he stated putting his hand up to the door. Trying to send a small pulse of energy into the door to remove the seal, his scowl returned as he instead felt no change in either himself or the door. "That's not good... meaning if my BlazBlue is out-"

 _ **CRACK!**_

"We do this the old fashioned way," he finished as he destroyed the door with a well placed roundhouse kick; breaking through the seal and the wood without resistance before blasting the whole thing off its hinges and sending door to hit a far wall before turning to splinters. Glancing back at the other three, he realized that they hadn't stirred in the slightest. "Damn, you actually slept through that? Guess that means I won't be able to wake you myself. It really is _you snooze; you lose_ ," he muttered before taking a single step out of the front door before his conscious got the better of him. "...Once I figure out what the hell's going on, I'll come back for you three."

His promise made, Ragna exited the door and hurried into the long hallway of cobblestone. Along the walls he noticed there were a few oil painting hung up as decoration, many with either a man or woman painted while others seemed to be depicting some sort of religious event. Taking his eyes off of the walls for a moment, he realized that he wasn't alone in the hallway. A lone maid stood at the far end, and judging by her shaking paralyzed body and her face's terrified expression it was clear that she'd seen him break the door.

"Please don't..." Ragna pleaded uselessly with a sigh.

"EEEEEEEEEEEK!" the maid screamed out.

"Of course..."

 **(Cue** _Final Fantasy XV_ ** _Veiled In Black Extended_ )**

"What's going on here?" a voice demanded as a door on the maid's end of the hallway opened. Behind the door were two armored knights, dressed in plated armor of pure white. Each of them held an iron longsword in their right hand and were looking in Ragna's direction beneath their metal helmets. "He's awake already!?"

"This isn't good," said his friend before pointing to the maid. "You! Let Lady Lavell know of the situation immediately!" Nodding the maid hurried off past the two guards. With her out of the way, they then directed their attention to the Grim Reaper. "We don't want to hurt you, but we insist that you return to your room for the time being. We'll use force if you don't comply, so make it easier on yourself."

"And I'm getting out of this place, looks like we're dealing with a problem here," Ragna insisted as he threateningly stepped forward, causing the two guards to tense. ' _I'm dealing with amateurs here..._ '

"What now?" the first knight demanded of his friend.

"If he's just awoken we might be able to take him. We just need to knock him out," the other said as the two nodded at each other before starting a charge forward. "He's only at base lev-!"

A gust of wind was felt by both of them as their target closed the distance between them in the blink of an eye. Ragna's right hook managed to clothesline the first knight sending flying back into the far wall. The impact left a solid indent in the cobblestone and the knight fell to the floor.

"Jasper!" his remaining ally shouted. "Why you-!"

"Calm down I left him ali-" Ragna tried to say, but the knight wasn't in much of a listening mood. Dodging the powerful swing the knight made with his longsword, Ragna growled before spinning into a powerful kick that sent the second opponent flying into the wall beside his friend where he too crumpled. "Piss me off more why don't ya?"

Another barrage of footsteps then followed from the other end of the door, the source of which was more and more knights rushing into the long hallway. These weren't all the same type as the two Ragna had just beaten; instead of swords, a fair few of them carried lances while one was dressed in heavier armor and wielded large two-handed hammer, more still were dressed in white robes with masks over their faces while they wielded strange scepters.

"Bring him down!" the more heavily armored knight commanded. "The plan has become a failure!"

"Plan eh?" Ragna muttered, just before noticing one of the scepter wielders was glowing a deadly shade of crimson red. Glancing around his being, he realized he was surrounded by a red circle with an insignia of a flame right under his feet. "What the-?"

"Fire Spell the Second: _Blast!_ " the caster shouted. A massive and blinding blast of fire sounded from the magic circle leaving the others to flinch at the sheer force of the attack. A large cloud of smoke clouded the attack area... which Ragna promptly rushed from and sent the caster into a wall like his friends.

"He survived!?" one of the heavy knights shouted as he raised his hammer high above to crush the Reaper.

"I dodged," Ragna said before side stepping the move and delivering a devastating left hook to the attacker's ribs, sending a fourth victim flying, the armor not protecting this figure in the slightest.

With more and more knights falling, the two lance users lunged at him and forced the Reaper to lean back to avoid the attack, but the front of his robes was badly torn as a result. Scowling, he performed an aerial axe kick that caused the first target to face plant into the floor before spinning into a second midair attack and punting the other lancer into a wall. Before he'd even landed Ragna then smashed his fist into a swordsman's helmet, sending him flying into both another sword wielder and a scepter user with enough force that all three of them were rendered unconscious.

"Form up!" Ragna heard a new voice shout out. More soldiers had emerged from the other end of the halls and we making to surround the Reaper. Ragna then noticed who had spoken; this was their apparent leader. "Don't let him escape! I will handle this myself!"

Unlike the other soldiers, this warrior didn't have a helmet, revealing the face of a thin figured woman with fair skin and strange sky blue hair with a long braided ponytail that fell behind to her waist. The woman's armor wasn't that much different from the others, save for the flowing red cape the woman had behind her. She carried a two-handed greatsword which rested atop one of her armor plated shoulders.

"We were fools," she said angrily to Ragna with a scowl. "We trusted the prophecy and in turn it betrays us." She readied her greatsword before her, keeping her hold on its handle tense. "And you now you pay the price."

"...Don't count on it lady," Ragna said as he didn't bother raising his fists nor going into a ready stance. "I was in a bad mood when I woke up, you people are just making it a thousand times worse. Let me pass and maybe I won't have to be so grumpy."

"If it's freedom you want, you'll have to fight through me to get it," the woman told him with a scowl. "I am Lady Lavell, Commander of the Royal Guard force... and you will not defeat me you cur!"

"In case you haven't noticed, I've already knocked all of your friends unconscious. So how about you-?" The woman charged him with her sword before he could offer a less violent solution. "At this point, why do I even bother?"

The woman's first attack with her sword was a powerful one that Ragna was forced to weave back to dodge. Rushing his fist forward at the opening, Ragna managed to notice the woman change her grip to thrust the sword towards him and defend herself and eliminate the opening. Sidestepping the move at the last moment, Ragna turned into a roundhouse kick to the back and sent the woman skidding forward on the ground. She gave a grunt of pain as she was forced forward, but managed to withhold her footing.

"Sword Technique: _Mana Edge!"_ Lavell shouted as she swung her sword. A sky blue slash of energy fired off at Ragna, leaving the Reaper to quickly dodge to the side as the energy slammed into the wall, resulting in a massive explosion of rock and dust when it made contact. Plunging her blade into the ground behind her, the woman then gave a feral shout as she swung it forward and sent large chunks of debris in Ragna's direction.

" _Yare Yare..._ " Ragna sighed before throwing a multitude of punches out, destroying the attack in its place without difficulty. He then noticed that Lavell had tried to use that attack to cover he next one and had managed to leap high in the air, despite her armor weighing her down. "Dragoon Skill: _Diving Fury!_ " Her decent was fast enough to form a cone around her speed, but Ragna still intercepted the attack, effortlessly leaping into the air before smashing his elbow into the woman and sending her to the floor. "Gah!" the woman was trembling as she slowly rose to her feet, her breath was starting to waver. If anything, the only damage Ragna had taken was to his robes which had become further torn in the process.

"Lady Lavell!" one of the soldiers shouted before getting into a ready position. "You bastard! I'll-!"

"Hold! I can still take him!" she shouted as she managed to rise to her feet, her face now bruised and her armor now scratched and bent.

"Feh, you can't _take_ me," Ragna told her off. "I've managed to see through every one of your attacks and dodged them all. You haven't even been able to touch me."

"Maybe... but you won't dodge this one!" Lavell declared before stabbing her sword into the cobblestone beneath her. Immediately Ragna was surrounded in a bright golden circle with a barrier surrounding that seemed inescapable. "Specialized Technique: _HOLY BINDING!_ "

"What the-!?" Ragna grunted as he felt a titanic weight on his entire body forcing him down. He couldn't move from his spot and the force just kept coming, becoming more and more intense the harder he attempted to resist it.

"There's no escaping the _Holy Binding_ technique!" the commander declared as she kept her sword in the ground to continue her attack. "Once it has you, it will continue to force you to the ground and drain your stamina from your body. Try as you might, it will-!" It was at that moment that she discovered that while Ragna's knees were badly bent from the pressure forcing him down, neither of them had yet to touch the floor. "H-How can you-!?"

"Damn... it... all..." Ragna grunted as he slowly rose his head, his body shuddering whilst enduring the weight as he slowly made his way up. "TO HELL!" Glaring at Lavell with scalding eyes, he threw a last attempted punch forward and forced it through the titanic gravitational force. Cracks appeared from where the blow had landed, spreading through the entire enclosure. The walls shattered and fell around Ragna as the spell was broken.

"I...Impossible..." Lavell could only stutter. "No one has ever..." Seeing Ragna rise fully and continue to send a seething glare her, she pulled her sword out of the ground and prepared for a final charge. "I WON'T BE BEATEN!"

Her greatsword swung through the air with tremendous force behind it, enough so that every man surrounding the two could feel the force of the deadly attack. Time seemed to slow as they watched the blade as it neared the Reaper, relief and victory filling the soldiers eyes... Then said hope shattered with the blade as Ragna drove his dark fist through the metal. Rushing forward, he grabbed the commander and forced her forward, driving her deep into the wall, the force of the shockwave resembled a canon explosion.

 _ **(End Theme)**_

"H...H...How...?" she groaned as Ragna let go of her and watched her sag into the indent, her own will to keep fighting unable to support her any longer.

"Easy; one of us was proud, the other one was actually strong," he lectured as he turned to face the remaining enemy soldiers. Many of the knights seemed to have lost their will to fight as their commander lie in the broken wall. Ragna's scowl alone was fierce enough to force a fair few of them to take a step back as he started making his way down the hall.

"Please wait!" a new voice called out to him; this one of a young lady. Turning his head, Ragna's eyes landed on a new woman, one who appeared no older than the three in the room he'd awoken in. This woman had hair of silver done into curls and emerald green eyes that were behind thin glasses. Her dress was something out of the dark ages and it was clear with the gold embroidery on the violet and white design that this woman was someone of importance.

"Princess, stay back!" one of the soldiers begged, trying to get in the young woman's way. "This man is dangerous!"

"No, if I was dangerous I'd have been killing your soldiers; I've done nothing but knock 'em out from the start," Raga said as he continued to make his way for the door. "Go get 'em healed up or whatever, I'm out of here."

"But I can't just let you go!" the princess told him with desperation in her words. "You're... you're our last hope... We need you for the _Prophecy of the Four!_ "

"It's none of my business... and to blunt, I don't care," he told her harshly. "You're the ones that kidnapped me and now you're demanding I help you? Someone's pretentious."

"I... I'm aware..." the princess admitted with guilt, but then tried to speak with determination. "But you must listen to me! If you don't help us, countless of people will suffer!"

"Then fix it yourself; you seem to care enough about it to shout at me if nothing else," Ragna told her.

"B... But I can't!" she screamed tears flowing from her eyes. "Monsters have attacked so many travelers on the road and no one can defeat them! Bandit raids have become an almost daily occurrence on the smaller villages and in the larger ones corrupt nobles are starving their subject with their greed! My father the king won't even lift a hand to help the common people and my siblings are too busy vying for the throne! Without you our kingdom is as good as dead." The princess then knelt to her knees causing the guards to stare as she went prostrate in a tearful bow. "Please... you must... I'm begging you..."

"P-Princess," Lavell could only gasp as she tried to remain standing by bracing on her broken sword. The rest of the soldiers just seemed as taken aback, but the princess didn't move from that spot.

 _'...For the love of-_ ' Ragna growled to himself as he made his way back over to the newcomer. "Get up, and quit making such a damn fool of yourself."

The princess slowly rose her head, looking at Ragna with eyes that had turned slightly red from crying. Feeling uncomfortable with the whole situation, Ragna roughly yanked the young lady to her feet, earning a scowl from Lavell at his bluntness.

"S-So y-you've... decided to help us?" she asked him, only to shriek softly as Ragna's scowl increased, making him look even more terrifying. "Eep!"

"I haven't decided jack," the Reaper growled at her. "Give me my damn clothes back, then I'll listen..."

 _ **Author's Note: Okay, so less explaining here than I had intended, but we're just getting started after all. Not sure when I'll have the next chapter up and ready, but I'm hoping it's at least somewhat soon. Maybe Friday if we're lucky.**_

 _ **Anyways, here's the review responses, followed by the Omake.**_

Dread Grim Reaper: Don't worry about it, I know from experience that typing on any app is damned near impossible.

Wic W. Author: Let's hope I can keep it that way at around 3,000 words an update.

BlackSavior: Well... the butler story wasn't exactly working out, so I wouldn't expect an update on that anytime soon sad to say. At least we've got us a dub.

Chaos HellLaser: Thanks for the vote of confidence, I'll make it a point not to let you down.

Wlyman2009: I wouldn't say out of nowhere, but I still like to think of it as a pleasant surprise.

EpicLinkSam: We already talked via PM, but I'm glade you like it.

Medblare: Thanks, got a lot more of these messages than I had planned on.

Mystech Master: All great ideas, but all to be decided later.

The Unplanner: It's not a Grimm, but I already told ya that. Anyways, I've got things under control and you'll be seeing more of this story.

Mugen7: L8r m8.

PhantomEdge: Not likely, the main four seem to be the extent of my focus for right now. And I've played/watched all of the games, so I know what I'm getting into.

 _ **Annnnnnnd Omake time ladies and gents.**_

 _ **The Brute**_

"So he forced his way in?" Lavell demanded from the three maids standing before her. "Into our kitchens no less."

"Not exactly ma'am," one of the maids admitted. "H-He had asked if he could use the kitchen instead of forcing himself in... But those eye of his were-"

"He used intimidation then; that's just as bad," the commander said as she growled under her breath. "That brute and his ways... he's no better than some bandit."

"A bandit?" another maid asked with startled surprise. "But isn't he supposed to be one of the four heroes the prophecy spoke of?"

"...Maybe, but you three didn't see him when we fought." Lavell gripped a gloved hand in anger over her own weakness. "That man blasted our soldiers away so gracelessly and didn't care for any chivalry in the slightest. Even against my greatest technique he resorted to brute force... and that's how I know he's a brute."

"I-If you say so my lady," the third maid said. "But he's still in our kitchens..."

"If we're lucky then by the end of this we'll still have a kitchen, and by some miracle we'll also have some food left," Lavell muttered. "I know his kind, all they do is scarf down everything they have without concern of what the next day will bring, they gorge themselves on raw food and waste so much in the process. They're barbarians."

The three maids looked at one another in concern; the kitchen had been their life for the longest time and they loved their work with a passion, always loving the happy faces that their food brought. The thought of someone destroying their beloved kitchen hurt them deeply... though bleak thoughts seemed to vanish as a familiar aroma wafted before them.

"I... I smell chicken cooking," one of the maids said as they sniffed the air. Looking at each other, they came to a silent agreement and entered the kitchen as carefully as they could. Lavell followed as well, keeping her hand on her backup longsword in case it was needed. The three then peaked around the corner coming to a surprising sight.

"For a place that has a princess in it, they don't have that great of a spice rack," Ragna said with a sigh as he sprinkled a few select herbs over the spit-fire chickens he was cooking. "Guess I'll just have to make do however I can." Turning his attention away from the fire, he took out a knife and cut a large collection of vegetables in the blink of an eye. Giving the cutting board a quick jolt, he then launched them through the air and added them to a pot where he was making stew. "Damn, hope those soldiers like carrots cause this is looking more like carrots with a bit soup mixed in here and there.."

"He... he's cooking?" one of the maids asked.

' _And he's doing it for the soldiers he was fighting? That's odd..._ ' Lavell thought to herself. She then made her way into the kitchen, much to the maids' surprise.

"Hmm?" Ragna hummed as he saw the knight approaching him, taking her gloves off as she came to counters. Grabbing a bag of flour and a bucket of water, she began preparing bread. "Didn't ask for your help."

"There are over two hundred occupants to cook for; you'll need my help if you intend to feed all of them," Lavell told him humorlessly. "Though... why bother?"

"People are a lot less likely to put a knife in your back if you've filled them up with a good meal," the Reaper admitted.

"Is that so? I didn't think that would be enough to kill you," the commander told him seriously.

"...Shut up and kneed your bread; we both suck at small talk alright?" Ragna told her with a groan. What he didn't notice was the blue haired woman's sly smile at him.

"So... is he flirting with her?" one of the maids asked. None of them had any idea.

 _ **Until Next Time Everyone!**_

 _ **Ciao!**_


	3. Awaken To Thy Fate

_**Rebellion the First: Awaken To Thy Fate**_

 _'What on...?_ ' a silver haired young man thought to himself as he violently lurched upwards in his bed, sweat beading and pouring down his face as he breathed heavily. His entire body was in pain as his sight adjusted to the candle lit room.

"You alright?" he heard an unfamiliar voice say. Turning his head, he saw a man with silver hair dressed in a red coat and black hakama clothing laying on his own bed with his hands behind his head as he relaxed, though he did appearing to be looking over with slight concern in his red and green eyes. "I was wondering when another one of us would finally wake up."

"When one of us?" the younger boy repeated as he glanced over to his other side. Seeing that there were two more individuals inside, both of whom appeared to be asleep. "Oh..."

"Though I hadn't expected you to wake up so damn violently. That must've been one hell of a nightmare," the stranger muttered from where he laid. "Well whatever, you can call me Ragna."

"My name is Yu Narukami, Ragna-san," Yu told him. Looking around, Yu tried to get a sense for the surroundings. "Do you have any idea where we are?"

"Some kind of temple, but that's all they've told me so far. The people that brought us here SAID that they'd explain the rest once you three woke up, but I've been bored out of my mind for the last three days."

"I see... so I've been asleep for three days then," Yu noted, trying to remain calm in the situation.

"At least; I don't have any idea how long I was sleeping before I woke up," Ragna admitted. "Lucky you woke up when you did, I was starting to get annoyed just sitting on my ass."

' _This place has a strange feeling to it. This doesn't feel like the TV world or the red mist... so what is it?'_ Yu thought to himself as he gripped his hand. ' _I wonder..._ ' "Ragna-san, I'm going to try something kind of strange, so try not to overreact."

"There's not a lot that can surprise me these days kid, but thanks for the warning," he admitted as he saw the good willed effort. Nodding, Yu then summoned a strange Azure blue card to his hand before crushing it. The result was a creature that stood behind him with a black-buckle jacket and held a strange spear. Its face was covered by a metal mask with intense yellow eyes staring out. "...Not even in my top ten."

"Huh? Are you a _Persona_ user as well?" Yu asked. Ragna shook his head.

"Don't know what the hell this... _Persona_ is, but I've seen much stranger things than that," the Reaper explained. ' _And familiar if I include that masked pervert._ '

"You must lead an exciting life then," Yu said as he threw off the sheets and realized his clothing had changed. "What the-?"

"Try not to think about it... It's hard, but... You'll lose less sleep," Ragna told him. "Which reminds me..." Yu watched on curiously as Ragna made for the doorway... before questioning that the door had apparently been blown off its hinges. "Oi."

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEK!"

The sudden screaming of a young maiden was heard clear as day by the _Persona_ wielder. Forgoing reasoning at the threat that someone was in danger, he kept his _Persona_ out and headed for the front door, coming to a halt when he saw Ragna standing in front of a maid. The Reaper didn't appear to be looming over her threateningly, more like he was annoyed that she'd stepped back screaming from him.

"C'mon, I'm not here to eat ya," Ragna told the woman as he shoved a thumb towards the door way. "One of the others just got up, so how's about you get him his damned clothes... maybe let him take a bath after all of the time he's spent in that bed."

"I-I-I-!" The maid seemed like she could do nothing but stutter at him so Ragna made his way back towards the room with a slight growl. Her terrified expression only seemed to remain as her eyes landed on Yu's _Persona_. Yu realized how off-putting Izanagi would be to a non-persona user and unsummoned it, though the woman's complexion didn't improve that much. Ragna gave Yu a passing glance as he headed back inside the room they'd awoken in, but stopped suddenly.

"So... who's Nanako then?" Yu's body went cold as ice, though the more passive teen did his absolute best not to show it. It was a joke that he'd been hearing more and more lately and he was starting to grow tired of what it implied he was. "Sorry, just a name I heard you mutter in your sleep before you woke up."

"...My little sister," Yu told him. Nanako was really his younger cousin, but with the time he'd spent with her and the 'big bro' nickname she'd given him, he felt safe calling her his younger sibling, even in the present situation.

"...I see," was all Ragna gave him in return. It looked like he had more to say, but instead he headed over to his bed and lying down once more. The thoughts he'd been having in hesitation apparently faded.

While the baths had only appeared as small wooden bathing tubs, as soon as Yu had taken his first steps in he immediately felt a consuming wave of relief wash over him. There was a slight green to the water, suggesting that the servants had added an herbal remedy to the baths. He felt the soreness leave his body, which felt relaxing even with all of the time he'd supposedly spent in his bed. But this new time alone left Yu with his own thoughts.

' _If this place doesn't feel like the TV world or even the Red Mist setting I doubt that Sho would be behind any of this. But if that's the case, how on earth am I still able to use my Persona? And I didn't even enter the Velvet Room before I came over to this side... so what's the truth here? Then there's Ragna-san... he's not a Persona user, but I can't help but feel that something's off about him.'_

Despite spending a good long while thinking in the baths, Yu wasn't able to come to a proper answer. By the time he had finally made it out, the water was cold and his toes were already wrinkled. Heading over to his belongings that had been brought in before he'd started to bathe, he saw the usual set of clothes that he wore whenever he traveled, the katana he carried for protection, and his own personal suitcase containing his Yasogami High school uniform. Giving a short sigh, he went over and opened his suitcase knowing it fit the occasion.

The baths weren't a long ways away from the room that Yu had awoken in, so his walk back was rather short. This was somewhat of a relief to him as both soldiers and servants couldn't help but whisper as she walked by. Yu was a little off put by the soldiers' armor which resembled knights from the dark ages, but he decided he wouldn't worry about it until he had more answers. Stepping back inside the room, he saw Ragna lying with his hands behind his head much like how he'd discovered him when he'd woken up.

"Feeling better?" Ragna asked, trying to make conversation.

"Much... sorry if I kept you waiting," Yu told him apologetically.

"Don't be, it's those two that we're waiting on," Ragna said as he gestured to the beds of the others... only to realize as a groan then came from both of them. "The hell?"

"Speak of the devil..." Yu began.

"And he shall appear," Ragna finished darkly.

"Cookies..." the young girl moaned as she slowly awakened, leaving Ragna and Yu to glance at one another in concern.

"Ugh..." came the groan from the boy with blonde and black spiked hair as he too slowly rose to an upright position. "Where... am I?"

"That's what we want to know," Ragna told the two bluntly. "Try not to move too much, you two are going to be sore as all hell for the first few minutes."

"Really?" the blonde kid asked. "Cause I can't- Augh!"

"Told ya," Ragna told the two with a grimace as he was proven right.

"Wh-where did my Team go?" the girl asked as she looked around the surroundings before flinching at the soreness herself. "And we'd all just found each other again..."

"Try to take it easy," Yu told them both before looking to Ragna. "Now what happens?"

"Let's let 'em get up and around," the Reaper decided. "After that they can take a bath before we finally get some damn answers for this whole thing."

"Bath?" the girl asked before examining her clothing. "Wha-wha-!?"

"Wh-who changed our-!?" the blonde also demanded, both of their faces bright with blushes.

"It's better that you don't think about it," Ragna and Yu told them darkly in unison.

"Um... alright," the girl said, though it didn't look like her blush was going to fade anytime soon. "I... I'm Ruby... Ruby Rose."

"Call me Hyde... Hyde Kido," the remaining young man said just as awkwardly.

"Yu Narukami, nice to meet you both," he told them both, putting on a pleasant smile on his face to try and put them both at ease. And this here is Ragna... sorry, I never got you last name Ragna-san."

"I don't use one," he told them both before heading into the hallway. "Hey."

"EEEEEEEEEEEEK!" came the maid's shriek yet again. Hyde and Ruby both seemed to grow concerned, so Yu motioned for both of them to remain calm.

"Oh come on, three times?" Ragna's groan then followed. "The others are up, you mind letting Lavell know what's going on? I get the feeling that she doesn't want to deal with me. Oh, and I think they want a bath so-"

Y-yes my lord, right away!" the mage shouted as she hurried off, leaving Ragna to sigh at her timid nature around him.

"Someone's a lady killer," Ruby groaned sarcastically.

"He... he is somewhat intimidating," Yu had to admit.

"So..." Hyde began trying to change the subject before he smelt himself. "How about that bath then?"

While Hyde and Ruby were guided off to the bathing rooms, Ragna and Yu were left back in the room they'd awoken to wait for the others to freshen themselves. Ragna continued to only lie on his bed and stare up at the ceiling, almost like he was waiting for something to fall upon him. Yu noticed his change in attitude and decided he'd take charge of promoting another conversation.

"So that maid..." he began.

"You have a thing for maids?" Ragna asked, deferring from what Yu had obviously wanted to ask about.

' _Yosuke and Teddie might, if their escapade with that Nurse magazine was anything to go off of,'_ Yu thought to himself. "No, I just had a question about the way she was acting around you. Are most women that terrified when you talk to them?"

"No, most of 'em are just plain disgusted at the sight of me," Ragna told him off. Yu wasn't sure whether or not he was being serious. "With her though... when I woke up I sorta... well I basically wanted to get the hell out of here, and the guards didn't care for that."

"So they forced you back into the room?" Yu asked, not sure why the maid would be so terrified if that was the case.

"Like hell, kicked their metal asses is what I did."

"You, you what?" the silver haired teen asked with a bit of a start.

"Calm down, I didn't kill any of 'em... and I was going to come back to grab you once I found an exit, I swear."

"That's... nice of you," Yu said, still taken a little aback. "But why would you have bothered, wouldn't we have just slowed you down?"

"Probably, but I don't think I could sleep at night knowing that I'd left three kids to god knows what," Ragna admitted before chuckling. "Now at least I'm suffering through it with you. That's a load off my mind."

"Seems strange that you decided to stay though," Yu said, analyzing what he saw and heard of his new acquaintance. "You'd sounded rather dead-set on leaving... what stopped you?"

"That damned princess of theirs," the Reaper told him with a scowl. "That girl must have no shame; begging me while sobbing right in front of me like that. She made me feel like a total villain there!" In spite of Ragna's grumbling Yu let out a chuckle. "You got something to say? Spit it out."

"Nothing, it's just... you're actually a nice guy underneath it all, aren't you?" To the question, Ragna shot the teen a snarky smirk.

"Nah, I'm just a cold-hearted bastard who's allergic to crying girls," Ragna told him in response. Yu laughed and it was actually enough to get Ragna join in with his own chuckle.

"We're back," they heard a voice say from the doorway as they saw Hyde reenter the room followed by Ruby. Gazing outside, Yu could also saw a woman only slightly older than he and Hyde appearing to be waiting for them. She had blue hair braided into a ponytail and carried a longsword at her side, her armor and red cape was also hard to ignore.

"Is that uniform for your high school?" Yu asked observing the belted outfit that the blonde was wearing.

"Yep, though it's what I usually end up wearing anyways," Hyde admitted before smirking. "You're the same, eh?"

"Yeah, I am," Yu said, looking down at his own uniform with nostalgia.

"And I left my uniform at home," Ruby said, disappointed that she didn't have hers to wear.

"Must be nice..." Ragna said enigmatically in turn as he rose from his bed.

"As heartwarming as this meeting is, I'm afraid we should be moving," the armored woman then spoke. "The princess is awaiting us, both with grave warnings of the future and great gifts of promise."

"As long a we stop being kept in the dark," Ragna muttered as the four began following her. "Just give us the damned truth already..."

"... _Truth,"_ Yu only repeated.

 _ **Author's Note**_

 _ **Next chapter is up and ready. So this chapter had a bit more of a Yu's-point-of-view focus this time around. Hopefully I'll get a chapter like this for Hyde and then maybe one for Ruby. Shouldn't be too bad. Anyways, he's my review responses.**_

 _Medblare:_ I hadn't intended for her technique to sound sexual... I think that's only you. Anyone else think that?

 _Wlyman2009:_ The first.

 _Dread Grim Reaper_ : That's how I do things.

 _The Unplanner_ : Hair color arguments aside, I did create the battle system myself and thanks for the kind words on the fight scene. Sometimes someone just needs to a chance to cut lose and have some fun pwning n00bs.

 _Mugen7_ : Excellent! I always enjoy a length summary review.

 _Hank_ : Maybe, maybe not. I'm all for cliche's, but they need to be done well first and foremost.

 _BlackSavior_ : Well Ragna was trained by Jubei so it makes sense that the cat would teach him at least a little more than the by and by basics... of course, Ragna's never really one to over complicate things. As for his Rachel comments, that was a spur of the moment idea so I'm glad you liked it.

 _adv:_ See this one then.

 _ **Let the Chaos Begin!**_

Yu: "After all of the countless Persona references... I've finally been written into an actual story."

Ruby: "Whoop whoop! Story number three for me!"

Hyde: "And Storm's finally played my game... No one really knows who I am, do they?"

Ragna: "Dammit, I better be getting overtime for this crap... Have some variety dammit! You have PLENTY of stories."

Yu (sweat-drop): "He pays you? Well...Moving on, it looks like we have our team."

Hyde (smiling proudly): "Yep! Looks like our team of Rag-Tag Highschool students is good to go!"

Ragna: "Ahem!"

 ***Everyone then looks to the Reaper, who appears to be raising his brow at being called a 'High School Student'** *

Ruby: "Right... Ragna's at more of a college student age isn't he... except he never actually went to school to begin with."

Yu: "Poor guy, never got to experience those golden years of Japanese high school life."

Hyde: "No wonder he's always so grouchy."

Ragna: "Ease up on the mocking-pity-party, alright? All that matters is our team of four is here and it's as ready as we'll ever be to kick some ass. My non-confirmed age be damned to hell."

Hyde: "Still though, it kind of makes you an outlier..."

Yu: "Yeah, this makes a team of three students and one... well, one..."

Ragna (ticked): "If you say old man, I'm going to clobber you. I've already dealt with that in a separate story and I STILL have to be called 'dad' every chapter!"

Ruby (whispering to the others): "So we can't call him dad..."

Hyde (whispering): "Cause that's already been done..."

Yu (whispering): "So that leaves..."

Ragna (dreading the outcome): "I have a bad feeling about this one... What are you plotting?"

Ruby (sadistically sweet): " _Ohhhh... Nothing..._ We just figured out what to call you."

Ragna (dread levels are over 9000): "A nickname, huh? What'd you come up-?"

 ***All at once the three of them attack the Reaper with a tackle hug; all three of their faces looking very Kawaii in the process whilst Ragna became increasingly annoyed***

Yu/Hyde/Ruby: "UNCLE!"

Ragna: "DAMMIT!"


	4. Purpose and Powers

_**Rebellion the Second: Purpose and Powers**_

 _'I wonder what this Princess is like?'_ Hyde Kido thought to himself as the four newly acquainted were led down the halls by the blue haired woman in armor. ' _Like Linne maybe? I could see her being mysterious like she was. If she's like Vatista then she'd have this air of mystery around her and won't talk much... As long as she isn't like Hilda I think I'll be alright. Can't believe I get kidnapped only AFTER I manage to defeat her, that's some cruel and twisted irony.'_

Despite Hyde's reluctancy to join into a new fight while his own was left unfinished, he didn't mind the whole situation all that much. Sure he didn't know this world or its people, but here he was in a freaking castle with armored knights standing guard with swords and spears. He couldn't help it if he found the situation at least a _little_ cool. He was so distracted in his thoughts, he didn't realize that the others had stopped and ended up walking into Ragna's back.

"Urk!" the blonde grunted as he fell on his rear. Ragna didn't appear to have even budged and reluctantly offered the youth his hand to help him up. "Sorry..."

"Just keep your eyes ahead of you," Ragna told him, though he didn't seem to sound too angry in Hyde's eyes. Taking his hand, Hyde felt himself get forcefully yanked to his feet.

His strange attitude aside, he couldn't help but see the man in red as the most enigmatic character here. Yu felt at least a little familiar because he wore a school uniform and Ruby claimed to have worn one before, but Ragna had made no such claims. He seemed to act lax, but Hyde had seen his type of posture before and it was clear that he knew his shit. Even his outfit and build was different and it wasn't helping that he appeared to be several years older than the rest of them.

' _Maybe he's just a cosplayer,'_ Hyde thought to himself. _'Yeah, an over-dedicated one maybe... or he could have been a new addition to the Hollow Night that I missed.'_ Somehow, convincing himself didn't seem to work that well.

"Now the four of you are about to meet the princess," the armored woman said as she stood before heavy wooden doors. "So please try to act respectful in her presence; she's taking a large risk just by remaining here to greet you."

"Of course," Yu said, easily able to accept something as tiny as a etiquette request. Satisfied with the response, the woman opened the door and the five headed inside.

The room inside resembled that of a church; complete with stained glass paintings on the walls for decoration. Rows of pews sat empty as the surrounded a podium on the far wall with an altar on it. Upon the alter were four open books situated on the corners, all of them appearing old and worn. Standing in front of the altar was an elderly priest and a silver haired woman in a violet dress that Hyde assumed was the princess. She eyed the four seriously behind her thin framed glasses as they approached, not speaking until they reached the podium before her.

"Princess, I've brought all four of the summoned before you," their guide said as she bowed before the royalty.

' _Summoned_ ,' Hyde thought to himself as he looked at the kneeling knight. Realizing this _was_ nobility he was standing before, he was about to kneel himself before Ragna stretched out his arm to stop him and send a slight glare. Again, this one didn't appear to be angry, but it instead sent a message that seemed to say ' _she doesn't own you._ ' At the very least it looked like he was stopping Yu in much the same way, so at least Hyde didn't have to feel too awkward for his attempt.

"Thank you Lavell, that will be all," the princess said. Saluting, the blue haired knight named Lavell rose to her feet before leaving out the wooden doors and closing them behind her. "I'm... happy that you four have decided to hear me out without incident. It makes things easier for everyone involved."

"...That's totally aimed at me, isn't it?" Ragna asked with a sigh. Hyde and Ruby didn't seem to get what he was trying to say, though Yu seemed to understand with the face-palm he did.

"I-I didn't mean anything by that! I apologize!" the now flustered princess tried to defend, a clearly crimson blush on her face. The Reaper didn't look amused, only crossing his arms. "If... If we're to get started, I suppose we should at least know each others names. I am Princess Marie Eragog of the Royal Family. This besides me is Head Priest of Heavencliff Temple, Father Nester." The chief priest then gave a bow.

"Okay then... I'm Hyde Kido, but you can call me Hyde for short," the youth said, deciding he'd be the first of the four to make introductions.

"Yu Narukami, Third Year High School student," Yu said, including his school year.

"Ruby Rose, Huntress-In-Training," the only female member greeted.

"Ragna... the Bloodedge," Ragna introduced, finally using his title.

' _Bloodedge?'_ Hyde thought to himself. ' _Never thought I'd hear a nickname like that. Something tells me I don't want to know how he got it._ ' Shaking that thought out of his head he tried to get some answers. "So... Heavencliff... My geography sucks, but that's not in Ireland, is it?"

"We have never heard of such a land, and it would stand to reason that you wouldn't have heard of ours," Nester told the four, his elderly voice gentle yet hoarse. The prophecy has stated that the four shall arrive from a different world... though judging by your different appearances, it could mean that each of you could have come from a different world than your allies."

"I was under that impression as well," Yu admitted.

 _'Nothing gets by him, does it?_ ' Hyde thought to himself. "So we're here for a reason, can you tell us what we're supposed to do?"

"In short they want us to save their damned kingdom," Ragna informed harshly. "Something about corrupt nobility and monsters if I'm remembering it right."

"Yes..." Marie told them sorrowfully. "In our royal council, all that matters is power and money while the lesser folk are left nearly undefended. Countless reports have come in from cities needing additional forces to add to their militia and not a single one has been responded to by my father. They turn a blind eye while our people suffer... though I can imagine some politicians doing far worse than simply abandoning their people. This age of darkness has existed since my grandfather's day... I wish to end it."

"And you can't do anything about it?" Ruby asked. Ragna shot her a skeptic look. "Hey, I'm just asking. She is the princess after all."

"While that's indeed true, if I had the power to resolve this without summoning the four I would have," the princess told them bitterly. "Also I may be a princess, but... I'm only the seventh child of the royal family."

"S-Seventh?" Hyde asked with surprise, which seemed to be shared with the other three. _'The king must be a busy man... That or this is why he isn't doing anything to help the others of his kingdom._ ' "So... we shouldn't exactly expect a hero's welcome from the king then, or from your six siblings."

"More than six actually," the princess told them with a slight blush on her face. "I am the seventh of... thirteen children to the crowned family."

"...Dammit man, pull out," Ragna muttered with some vulgarity, though no one in present company look in any hurry to reprimand him.

"Regardless yes, my father would not want your involvement, in fact he doesn't currently know of your existence. This shrine to which we've summoned you is one of the further places in the kingdom from our capital. I'm was merely brought to this temple to take part in a small ceremony to commemorate the end of our winter, but that was merely a cover so I could bring you all here."

"You've brought us here, does that mean that you can send us back?" Hyde asked. "I mean... I want to help how I can, but I need to handle things back in my home. There's a fight there that I need to get ready for and I only have about a month before it starts."

"I... just met up with some of my closest friends after being separated from them," Ruby input. "And I have my own fight to take care of..."

"I've got school coming up," Yu said, scratching the back of his head. "That and my friends would notice that I'm missing pretty quickly."

"...No comment," Ragna told them moodily, apparently not in a very reflective mood at the moment.

"While it is true that we would not be able to send any of you back to the realms that you hail from, the spells inner workings have made it so that you won't have to worry," Father Nester told them. "You three haven't been taken from your own world as much as you now have a presence within our own. All of your memories and many of your attributes have been taken and made form... meaning there's another person of exactly your qualities left in your homes."

"So in short... we're copies?" Hyde asked, somewhat confused with the whole ordeal. "And... there's really no way home?"

"At the very least that's what they're telling us; it all sounds a little too convenient," the Reaper grumbled, not feeling very trusting of the people before him.

"F-Father Nester is a priest of our Holy church!" Marie outburst at Ragna's attitude. "He's one of the greatest allies to my kingdom and one of the most kind-hearted men I've known!"

"Priests can lie just the same as anyone else, even princesses," Ragna shrugged while everyone seemed taken aback at his coldness. He then turned to the other three. "So what are you going to do?"

"You... you're asking us?" Hyde asked.

"Even though these people brought you here, they've got no control of what you chose to do," Ragna told the three of them leaving the priest and princess to grow visibly nervous. "The choice is on you, not them."

"...Even still I'm going to help," Hyde told him after a long moment of silence. "I mean, I can't exactly say that I'm happy to be here, but I can't just sit and do nothing. It's just not my style to stay back."

"I'm the same way," Yu agreed before smiling. "In fact, this almost feels like the adventures that I've had with my friends... I'm ready to do my part."

"Guess my team reunion was pretty short lived," Ruby said sadly before looking to Yu and Hyde with a bittersweet smile. "At least I'll have a new team to work with while the other me does her part back home."

"If the gods smile upon us, we can manage with this much," the princess said with a sigh of relief. "It may not be our prophecy of four other-worlders, but I'm sure that the three of you-"

" _Four_ of us." Everyone turned in surprise to Ragna who had finally uncrossed his arms to speak. "Never said I _wouldn't_ help, I just wanted to make sure you four were making your own decisions instead of going along with whatever I wanted."

"What if we didn't decide to help?" Hyde demanded.

"Then I would've gone on my own way, probably helped out indirectly where I could," he admitted with a chuckle before turning to the princess. "You've got your fourth, though I wouldn't call myself a hero."

"So long as you're willing to help us, that's all the heroism we need from you at the time being," the princess admitted before turning to the priest. "Are we ready to proceed then?"

"I believe we are," he told her as he gestured to the the alter. "Now if the four of you would come to the alter and lay your hands upon the grimoires, we can give you the power of the heroes."

"Power of the heroes?" Hyde repeated.

"It is a sacred process with to allow you to see the world in a different light than the normal masses of man," the priest told them all. "The more basic form of this practice is for registered mercenaries and travelers, but it's an expensive procedure and not nearly as effective. Should the tomes find you worthy, you shall inherit their powers and gain powers not seen by anyone else in this world."

"Meaning if they don't accept us, we're in trouble," Yu thought before heading up to the table and putting his hands on the Grimoire. "Let's hope this works then."

"Hey, if it gets me any awesome new powers, I'm all for it," Ruby said as she went up and put her hands on her own tome.

"Grimoire, eh?" Ragna thought aloud before putting his own hands on an open book and chuckling, much to the others skeptic glances. "Sorry; inside joke. I'm ready."

Hyde didn't say anything only walking up and putting his hands on his book and nodding to show that he was ready. Things were moving pretty quickly for the youth between waking up in an unfamiliar place and learning that there was no way that he could return to his home. All the same, the others appeared to be taking this as well as they could and were trying to roll with the punches... he knew that he'd have to do the same.

"If you're all prepared... then we can begin," the _Priest_ said before beginning a chant. "Divine powers that be, if you in your strength and wisdom should find these four worthy, bless them with the gift of the heroes so that they might save us in our time of great need! Bless them so that they might save us from the coming storm and lead us to your salvation! We pray to you... bless them..."

 _'And I thought the speeches at my school were preachy,'_ Hyde thought to himself with a roll of his eyes. That was before he heard Ruby let out a small gasp. Looking at her feet, he saw that she was surrounded by a golden glowing circle. Quickly examining his own feet, he saw that he too was surrounded by a circle and his hands were stuck to the book before him. ' _What the-!?'_ The light shone brighter and brighter, leaving Hyde to harshly wince as his entire body felt like it was on fire. ' _Augh! Is this really the best way!?_ '

Enduring the blessing for a good minute more, the light slowly began to fade as did the painful feeling... along with all other feeling as Hyde's entire body grew numb. Losing his grip on the tome, Hyde fell backwards and blacked out before he even hit the floor. In the darkness of his mind however, something seemed to appear. It was a strange white rectangle with a bold yellow outline against the darkness. Inside of the rectangle was strange text that read:

 _Hero Registration Complete_

Name: _Hyde Kido_

Class: _EXS Adept_

Lv: _1_

 _ **Author's Note**_

 _ **Whelp that's another chapter done, and just in time before my March Hiatus. During this month, I have no planned updates for ANY of my stories, though I will go back and maybe make a few edits here or there. Just some basic grammar corrections and redoing possible story points for errors that I didn't know about since CentralFiction hadn't come out yet (yeah, some of these chapters are OOOOOOLD).**_

 _ **If I go back to do a short chapter for this or Grimm Reapers in Remnant, it'll be a surprise for everyone, myself included. I'll be up and running again on April 1st (not sure if I'll do something special for that though).**_

 _ **A little ironic though, I'm probably one of the biggest Ragna the Bloodedge writers on Fanfiction, but I'm not going to be putting out a story for his Birthday on March 3rd. Ah well, not a huge deal breaker. Maybe I'll do a one-shot if I'm up for it.**_

 _ **Here's the review responses...**_

 _Dread Grim Reaper:_ Thanks.

 _Wic W. Athor_ and _Black Savior:_ Bloodedge of Fairy Tale is the story that they call him dad.

 _Medblare_ : Ragna isn't giving up that coat without a fight, not with after all he went through with it.

 _Wlyman2009_ : I believe Luna may have called him an old fart... No, she probably didn't; she's still alive after all.

 _EpicLinkSam_ : I've rectified that mistake and played that game myself... It's not bad.

 _Adv:_ Ruby's POV will be next.

 _Mugen7_ : Another long review, just what I like to see.

 _Lee_ : We need a medic over here.

 _Mystech Master_ : All of which are ideas to consider, but I may try to steer away from addressing the more obvious parallels if I can to keep things fresh.

 _ **And... Omake time.**_

 _This Has NEVER Happened Before_

Hyde: "So now we've got text boxes coming up in order to give us new info about the world. Yeah, THIS is an original function if I've ever heard of one."

Yu: "Is it a problem though? I mean you've seen what Anime and Manga has become in recent years. It's a popular set up, so it almost makes sense to do it."

Hyde: "I come from a different world than you, remember? My Anime and Manga won't be exactly like what you have."

Yu: "Have you read _Saber Art Online_ then?"

Hyde: "Who hasn't? I... okay, so there's one similarity. But I watched the anime instead of reading the manga and I had my fair share of problems with it."

Yu (sweat-drop): "That's what a lot of people back in my world had to say about it, though its still popular somehow... What about _Log Skyline?"_

Hyde: "Okay, you get two. But that's one that I haven't gotten into. I've heard great things about it."

Yu: "It's pretty good, won't say it's ground breaking though. How about _CompleteSteel Geomancer?_ That's gotten a lot of love over the years."

Hyde (annoyed): "That parody name is a stretch and you know it! And that doesn't even have anything to do with Role Play Games!"

Yu: "But that's three similarities still. What can we learn from this?"

Hyde: "That manga is multi-universal and it can fit into wherever the writer decides to put it in?"

Yu: "Not... exactly, but sure. So what's the problem with the fantasy RPG setting?"

Hyde: "That it's been done before and its being done so many times even as we speak! With all of these new takes on it, it's going to be impossible to do anything new to the story without falling into old and overdone cliches."

Yu: "Just have some hope for the future, _Persona_ has been done time and again and I don't see anyone saying that the games gone stale."

Hyde: "Though some intense fans-"

Yu (sighing): "Say that P3 is the only one that matter and P4 just refuses to die, I'm well aware."

Hyde: _'This must be a sore spot for Yu...'_ "Changing subjects... you hear that _CompleteSteel Geomancer_ got a Live Action adaption?"

Yu: "I saw that, but I didn't watch it... I mean, you've heard about with happen with the _Assault on Giant_ and _Mortal Message_ adaptations? I'm a little worried to watch this one... let's wait for the reviews and hope it's good."

Hyde: "Hope against hope then... Hey, did you watch _Anime That Has A Few Animation Problems, But Is Nowhere Near As Bad They Say It Is Because The Fans Treat Its Manga As A Work Of God Even Though It's Been Stuck in Hiatus for Years At A Time?"_

Yu (momentarily confused): "You... you mean _Berserk 2016/2017?_ "

Hyde (throwing shade): "Like I said."

 _ **Yes I've seen Berserk 2016 and 2017, yes I admit it has problems, and yes I'm still defending it. It's not nearly as bad as people say it is (in my opinion) and I can still get some enjoyment out of it.**_

 _ **And with that I'm off for a bit. Take care everyone!**_

 _ **Ciao!**_


	5. Food For Thought

_**Rebellion the Third: Food for Thought**_

"CHOCOLATE CHIP!"

With that sudden outburst, Ruby sat up with her silver eyes glowing brightly as she eagerly looked around to find... no cookies, only three very surprised teammates looking at her with a sense of awe. Getting her surroundings back, she realized that she was back in the room with four beds that she and the others had awoken in, being placed in the bed once more though this time above the sheets.

"So... have a good... dream?" Yu Narukami asked awkwardly, trying to keep his composure steady.

"I... uh... didn't really dream anything," Ruby admitted with a blush. "H-How did we get back here?"

"Well for one thing, you and Hyde got knocked the hell out by whatever was in that Grimoire," Ragna told her bluntly. "For whatever reason I was fine, but Yu fell on his ass and almost fell unconscious."

"Oh... And then?"

"Then the Princess and Priest tell us _after_ the fact that the Grimoire was going to sap most of our strength away to give us this power," he grumbled. "Didn't have any idea when you were going to wake up, so I carried you both back here. You two were out for at least an hour and a half."

"And I woke up just a few minutes before you did," Hyde decided to input to the conversation. "So... did anyone see that screen that came up?"

"Yeah, I did," Ruby admitted. "I think it gave my name, said my class was a _Huntress-In-Training_ and I was... level one."

"Don't feel too bad; it said the same thing for me," Hyde admitted. "Well the level anyways, my class was called an _EXS Adept..._ which I guess makes sense, I mean that was a force I used back in my home world."

"My screen appeared for a brief moment, but then vanished completely. It said my class was called _The Fool,_ " Yu said plainly. Noticing the amount of pity everyone was shooting his way, the youth sighed. "The Tarot Card that represents new a beginning and faith for the future, not an actual idiot."

"I-I wasn't implying anything," Ruby tried to defend herself nervously. "So what was yours called Ragna?"

"... _CentralFiction_ ," he told them darkly, hesitating to reveal it.

"What's that even mean?" Hyde asked. "Central Fiction? Almost sounds like a J-Pop band."

"It's something I was called a few times back home," Ragna admitted before crossing his arms and groaning. "Out of all of the titles... to be honest I've been called worse, but I can still think of plenty I'd rather go by. Also, my screen said I was level 10, not 1."

"You're serious? How did you get a higher level than we did?" Ruby demanded. "Were you really just that much stronger than us back in your home world?"

"If that were the case I doubt the rest of us would have been all put at level one," Yu Narukami said as he appeared to be deep in thought. "If they'd truly taken our past powers into account then I doubt that three of us would have started at the first level... in fact, I don't exactly feel like I'm at full power."

"I... have to agree," Hyde then input. "My power doesn't feel very strong itself, in fact I feel like I've been weakened pretty thoroughly... But that still doesn't explain why Ragna gets the special treatment."

"...Might have been that fight I got into with the soldiers," Ragna admitted, scratching the back of his head with slight guilt. Hyde and Ruby both gave Ragna skeptic glances, but then noticed Yu's more neutral reaction as the teen had already been told the news. "That's why I was taking this so much better than the rest of you... I'd already gone through all of the suspicious crap."

"But you managed to get nine levels be-" _GROOOOAN._ Ruby was halted in her words as her stomach let out a massive empty gurgle. The young woman gave a harsh blush at the sheer volume of her stomach before noticing the that Hyde and Yu also seemed to gripping their stomachs, apparently their hunger having finally caught up with them. "Right... I guess we haven't been able to enjoy an actual meal for a few days at least."

"And it's too late to ask the servants to cook anything for us," Hyde sighed. "Looks like we're going to sleep hungry tonight."

"Doesn't mean we can't cook anything ourselves," Ragna told them. "There's a decent enough kitchen down the halls that we can use. You all know how to cook right?"

"I've had to live on my own for a while now, so I know my way around the kitchen," Hyde told him. "Will they really let us use it though?"

"As long as we don't go too crazy in there I think we should be fine," Ragna told them. "I mean they've let me use it before and... well, I just hope that you three have more luck with it than I did."

"Can you not cook?" Yu asked him rather bluntly.

"No, back home I used to cook for myself all of the time and I made some damn good food," the Reaper told them with a strange sense of pride. "Here though, all of my food comes out... _boring;_ not terrible or bland, just boring and hard to enjoy."

"I... don't get it," Ruby admitted before her stomach rumbled again. "But I guess boring food is better than no food. Let's see if we can use the kitchens and make something to eat; we can all try to pitch in."

"Like a team building exercise?" Yu asked as he thought back to his part experience with this type of activity. ' _At least Chie, Yukiko, and Rise aren't here to force me to have their cooking; I don't think I could stand another run in with Mystery Food X_.'

The four's walk to the kitchen was a short one, but at least Ragna didn't have to worry about any screaming maids (for once). A few soldiers did send a bit of a scowl his way as he passed them by, but Ruby noticed that he did his best to pay it no mind. Soon the four were in the kitchen with a few lanterns lit so that they could see what they were doing in order to prepare their food.

"Okay then, time to decide what dishes we're going to be making," Ruby said as she looked around the different ingredients. "Well I'm pretty good at baking, so I'll handle the bread!"

"There seem to be plenty of eggs," Yu observed as he looked as well. "Some cheese and easy spices too; I think I'll make each of us an omelet."

"Leave the vegetables to me; some tomatoes, some cucumbers, and some carrots... I'll try grilling them and seasoning them," Hyde said proudly.

"Guess that just leaves my dish," Ragna thought aloud as he looked over the ingredients. "Hmm... Let's keep this one simple; beef and potato stew."

The four then divided and began their work; cracking eggs, oiling vegetables, kneading bread, and cutting the beef into decent sized chunks. Each of them had worked their way around a kitchen before (though for Ragna, the wilderness had often been his kitchen). Fires were started, cheese was melted, food was properly spiced and heated, bread was baked, and stew was stirred. Before long three had a spread before them that looked very appealing... but...

"Is it just me, or is the smell... a little lacking?" Hyde asked, as slight grimace on his face as he looked over the food. "I... even tried to add extra spices to my food and it doesn't... smell. Not spicy or anything else."

"...Maybe it tastes better than it smells?" Ruby hoped aloud as every took a seat. No one took the first bite out of slight concern. "So... how should we do this?"

"We'll do it all at the same time and everyone will have a bite of their own dish; that's only fair, right?" Ragna suggested. No on could think of a better option so each of them held up a piece of food to their mouths. "Dig in..."

To everyone's relief no one immediately gagged at the taste of the food, but it didn't offer that much in taste to begin with. There was something there when you took a bite out of the dish, a bit of spice or a light and fluffy texture in the bread, but it faded quickly and you were stuck eating something without the flavor. It wasn't terrible, but it was still hard to eat from the pure lack of anything enjoyable.

"This is what I was afraid would happen," Ragna grunted as he put his spoon down and sighed.

"And we have to eat all of this," Ruby moaned. "I think I'm going to feel depressed by the end of this..."

' _My omelet... it's nearly as tasteless as Chie's,_ ' Yu thought darkly to himself.

"If the food I cooked came out like this every time, I'd have started eating fast food months ago," Hyde said with a groan. "Maybe the food will taste better with good conversation?"

"Somehow I doubt it," Ragna groaned as he tried taking another bite of his stew, flinching at this blandness. "Though I guess I'm willing to try anything... So, what to start with?"

"...Maybe we can get these new powers figured out," Ruby suggested. "I mean the Princess and that priest will probably teach us tomorrow, but maybe we can try ourselves and get the hang of them early. Where do we need to begin?"

"If anything, I'd say we'd need to see that screen again," Yu said as he appeared deep in thought. "Ragna and I only saw ours for a few brief seconds, so how would we be able to view them again?"

"I dunno..." Ruby admitted. "Maybe you just need to imagine it and-" As soon as she'd spoken, the familiar crimson red bordered screen appeared before her once more. "Whoa! Guys! It works!"

"A...Are you sure?" Ragna questioned as he looked over her way. "I don't see any-" Ruby didn't notice anything change with Ragna, but the Reaper visibly flinched. "Holy hell; there's mine..."

"Mine came up too," Yu added. "I guess all you really needed to do was imagine it."

"And I can see mine, but for whatever reason I can't see any of yours," Hyde said. "So, just to confirm... let's all say what we're seeing."

"Okay... so on my left there's a few boxes with words filled with them. The one highest up says _'Equipment_ ' and the one directly below that is _'Items.'_ The right there's a small box with with my name, my class, and my level. It also has a section to keep track of gold, but it says that I don't have any right now."

"That's what I'm seeing too," Hyde agreed. "I'm also seeing something that says _'Spring'_ and I'm assuming that's the Season that we're in. Underneath that is the time which says... 23:30?"

"Meaning it's 11:30 at night," Yu explained as he looked at the time. "I don't like using military time though, maybe I could-?" As soon as the silver haired youth started speaking he seemed to pause as he looked at the menu. "Okay... now it reads 11:30 PM."

"Meaning you managed to change it with just at thought," Ragna concluded before staying silent for a moment. It was then that a screen looking very similar to Ruby's appeared before him, save that his border was a deep azure blue. "Can anyone else see my screen now?"

"I can..." Yu said before a screen appeared before him; his appearing to have a gray border. "And there should be mine."

"Yep, and I'm trying to bring mine up too," Hyde said as his yellow border menu appeared. He gave a somewhat happy smile. "Cool, now this means that we can play around with our menus a little. So now what?"

"Let's look at our equipment and see what we've got equipped on us," Ruby said as she looked through her equipment and made her screen visible (she assumed). "Let's see... it say I have my _Crescent Rose_ gun-scythe on me for my weapon and my clothes for armor"

"Sorry, gun-what?" Ragna interrupted, staring at Ruby in awe.

"Oh right, you guys have never seen it yet," Ruby told him with a smile as she grabbed the hunk of metal on her back. Everyone watched with surprise as it turned into a scythe. "And yes, it does fire bullets," she told her three shocked team mates with a flirty smirk.

"...Good for you," Ragna told her passively, looking wistfully behind him almost like he was expecting to see something there. Shaking his head, he returned his attention back to his screen. "Looks like I'm unarmed at the moment, but what about you two?"

"I've got my sword at my side and my school clothes," Yu told them.

"And I've got mine... though I'll show it to you later," Hyde explained, liking the idea of having something to show off to the others later. "Nothing under items though."

"Yeah, I'm emptied out too," Ruby admitted before she looked to the other box. "Oh, this sounds interesting; _Class Details_." Using her mind, she entered the sub-menu and looked over the new information. "...Looks like I've got stats. _Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Magic, Spirit,_ and _Luck._ "

"Yeah, so do I," Yu said in agreement. "According to the description, _Strength_ effects your physical attack power, _Dexterity_ increases movement speed, _Constitution_ affects your defenses and protection from physical ailments, Magic increases your... magic, _Spirit_ is for healing spells and magic defense, and _Luck_ seems to influences a variety of things. All six of my stats are at ten, but it says I have six _Stat Points_ to assign, meaning I can increase them."

"My stats are a little more varied," Hyde told them. "I've got 12 _Strength_ , 11 _Dexterity_ , 7 _Constitution,_ 13 _Magic,_ 7 _Spirit_ , and 10 luck. So mine total sixty and I've also got 6 _Stat Points_."

"Hee, I think my stats are perfect for me," Ruby said with a smile. "Only an 8 _Strength_ , but my 16 _Dexterity_ more than makes up for it _._ I've also got a 7 _Constitution,_ 8 _Magic_ , 9 _Spirit_ , and 10 _Luck_. Oh, and 6 _Stat Points_."

"So we've all got a sixty stat total, a 10 _Luck_ , and 6 stat points to spend," Yu agreed. "That just leaves Ragna who's at level 10 so his stats should be a little higher than ours."

"..." The Reaper didn't speak, he just continued to have a long and depressing stare at the menu before him. He stayed like this for a good two minutes before the other three decided they'd check his screen to see what he was observing. What they saw defied any explanation.

 _Strength:_ 50

 _Dexterity_ : 50

 _Constitution_ : 40

 _Magic_ : 10

 _Spirit_ : 10

 _Luck_ : -100

 _Stat Points_ : 60

"...What was that you were saying about everyone having a 10 _Luck_ stat?" Ruby asked as everyone else stared silently at the screen, much the same way Ragna had been doing earlier. "I'm no master of how this world works, but I Ragna just broke the system." ' _Jeeze, Uncle Qrow's bad luck semblance is nothing compared to this guy's natural one..._ '

"I was almost expecting something like this," Ragna admitted sadly as he started doing the math in his head. "Odd thing though; I still technically total 60 in my stats..."

"Must be because you haven't assigned any stat points," Hyde guessed. "But... maybe if you put some of those into _Luck_ , you won't have to suffer through this with that low of a stat."

"It couldn't hurt..." Ragna guessed as he entered the _Apply_ stat points sub-selection and willed his stat points into _Luck,_ only to watch as a anotherscreen came up saying ' _Unable to apply stat points to Luck_ _stat due to class restrictions.'_ "OH COME ON!"

"Sad to say, I think we've found our front line fighter," Ruby said as she patted Ragna's back in a strange form of comfort.

"Sorry you've got to go through with this," Hyde too apologized.

"At least your bigger body makes you a more effective shield," Yu told him bluntly, causing Ruby and Hyde to glare at him.

"Why me...?" the Reaper groaned as he slumped his head.

"H-Hey, don't worry too much," Hyde said, trying to figure something out. "You know, back it some of the games that I play, the only thing _Luck_ influences is the frequency you hit something with a critical and the loot that monsters drop, you'll probably be a force to reckoned with in most battles."

"I mean, you were able to take out all of those guards, weren't you?" Yu suggested, remembering what Ragna had done when he'd woken up before him.

"So buck up! Things might not look great, but we're counting on you," Ruby said trying to cheer him up. "Three or your stats are more than double than any of ours, you'll become one of our strongest members."

"...Guess I can't bitch about it," Ragna groaned. "Still, a negative hundred _Luck_... what are the chances?"

"I'm not saying that I understand it, but we'll have to work with it," Hyde told him. As he looked over a subsections under _Class Details_. They were _Special, Magic,_ and _Enhancements._ "Looks like I've got got my _Black Void_ and _Vacant_ _Shift_ techniques, but that's about it. Nothing under _Magic,_ _but_ I've got a technique under _Enhancements_ called... _Immortal Slayer_? It say's I'll deal damage to any enemy I hit with a sword, even if they block it. And it can easily cut through most weaker defenses... Nice."

" _Cleave_ under _Specials_ and _Zio_ under _Magic_ , but it looks like I can only use them through..." Yu noted calmly. "Well I've also go a technique under _Enhancements_ , this one lets me regenerate my... So what do you guys have?"

"WHY AREN'T YOU TELLING US ANYTHING!?" Ruby scolded as Yu merely continued to ignore her and look over his menu.

"Leave him be, he just wants to act cool and mysterious," Hyde said. ' _Come to think of it, everyone except for Ruby_ seem to be trying that one way or another.' Hyde's eyes then landed on Ragna. _'Him especially._ '

"So, you've got abilities too Ruby?" the oldest of the group asked. Ruby nodded before looking under her techniques.

"Lets see... nothing under magic, but I've got two techniques. My _Speed Semblance_ which lets me move at super speed, and I've got... _Silver Glare?_ What the-?"

"I take it this is a new one for you," Ragna guessed as he looked over Ruby's shoulder. "Does it say what it does?"

"...Apparently I can... use the _Silver Eyes_?" she thought looking over the list. "It says I can stun an enemy and use it to interrupt an attack. Wow..."

" _Silver Eyes?_ ' Hyde repeated.

"My eyes are silver," Yu noted plainly.

"They're gray at best," Ragna turned him down. "What else, you got anything under enhancements?"

" _Regenerating Clip;_ it has me regenerate my ammo clip for _Crescent Rose_ over time," she told him before turning to Ragna. "What do you have?"

"A technique of mine called _Hell's Fang_ and another one called _Dead Spike._ Under _Enhancements_ I have my _Regeneration_... though where's everything else _?"_ Ragna thought aloud before noticing that everyone was staring at him. "...What?"

"Why are your techniques so edgy?" Hyde asked.

"Seriously?" Ruby questioned.

"You do seem to have a dark streak," Yu admitted.

"Says the girl that uses a weapon that's supposed to go between gun and scythe, a kid with too much highlight in his hair, and Yu," Ragna retorted.

"What about me?" the silver haired teen asked.

"You know what you are," Ragna accused him vaguely.

"...It's not that edgy," Yu tried to defend.

"STOP BEING SO CRYPTIC!" Ruby shouted once more. Groaning, she exited her _Class Attributes_ selection, only to come across an odd discovery. "The only catagory that's left is _Skills_ and a couple that only have question marks in them... Must have to unlock those later."

"Let's see what we've got under skills for now," Yu suggested. "Looks like we've got five skill points to start with and a lot of skills to choose."

"You're not kidding, and they all take ten points..." Ruby said as she slowly scrolled through the options. "Oh, here's one for cooking."

"Dibs, I call first!" Ragna suddenly shouted as everyone watched him invest ten points into his _Cooking_ skill, maxing it out and using up all of his points. "That's better..."

"Isn't that sort of a waste?" Ruby questioned as she continued scrolling through the list. "Ugh, you've got to kidding me, they've got an ability for _Sex Appeal?_ What sort of perv would put their points in there?" She then turned to Yu and Hyde, only to watch as both of them inserted all five points that they had. "...Really you two?"

"It could be useful," Yu defended as passively as ever.

"Cooking would have been a total waste to put it in," Hyde said as he shook his head.

"There are more options than _Sex Appeal_ and _Cooking_!" Ruby scolded them before selecting one of her skills. "Fine, I'm putting mine in _Wilderness_ _Survival_. That useful enough for you?"

"I don't know... Is it?" Yu asked with a charming smile... only for him to get struck in the head by a piece of Ruby's bread. "Guess level 5 isn't enough," he sighed before grabbing the bread. "...It's starting to go stale."

"And the rest of it's already cold," Hyde sighed. "I mean, it's not like it tasted worthwhile to begin with, but after everything we put into it, it seems like a waste."

"Then quit your moaning and help me out," Ragna said as he grabbed his pot of stew and brought it back over to the work area. Using a set of flint, he managed to reignite the fire. "Upgrading my skill just now gave me a crap ton of abilities to use, and one of 'ems called _Reheat._ Looks like I have another chance at this stew if I do it right."

"That so?" Ruby observed. "But our own _Cooking_ skills still haven't been changed." That was when a screen appeared in front of the three of them. ' _Chef: This High ranking ability allows its user to amplify the powers of an allies cooking nearby._ ' "I get it... so we're not out of this yet."

"I'm certainly not happy serving omelets that taste anything like this," Yu told her as he took a pair of glasses out of his pocket and put them on before undoing the top few buttons of his outfit, showing his true game face.

"Heh, and I'm not about to come in last place," Hyde said with a confident smirk of his own as he gathered up his vegetables. "Everyone ready for round two?"

"Ready as I'll every be!" Ruby told them energetically. ' _Maybe this group isn't as bad as I thought... This looks like it could even be a lot of fun!'_ "LET'S GO!"

 _ **Author's Note**_

 _ **Since it's Ragna's birthday, I thought I'd at least say that I felt obligated to get this chapter out. The info dump of exposition I put out here will certainly give everyone something to chew on for the time being, I'm hoping.**_

 _ **Now that everyone's had a chapter dedicated to their own point of view, the rest of this series likely won't follow that pattern and will do more to focus on the group as a whole. That isn't to say that each character wont have their own scenes or chapters where they'll stand out, but you know... there's no 'I' in 'Team'... or I any of the main character's first names actually.**_

 _ **Anyways, here's the review responses.**_

 _Dread Grim Reaper:_ A thank you to you.

 _Scifi73_ : Sorry, not a big _Monster Hunter_ player.

 _Wlyman2009_ : Good, question.

 _Mugen7:_ Now I'll take that Hiatus, my work is done for a while.

 _BlackSavior_ : Here's plenty of RPG elements for you.

 _TheUnplanner_ : True... but High School in Japan is seen as the greatest years of your life, much the same way crazy College life is for students in the states.

 _Mystech Master_ : We already talked, but I'm trying to keep it pretty even... save for Ragna's small boost to start with.

 _Azure Legacy_ : Was finishing this up as soon as your wrote this, that's timing my friend.

 _ **And now the Omake, a little short this time, but it's still here.**_

 _A Needed Surprise...?_

Ragna: "You know that this blindfold ain't doing jack against me, right?"

Hyde: "We know, just try go along with it an keep you eyes closed."

Ragna: "Could've just asked me that from the start and left the blindfold off."

Yu: "Ruby was into it."

Ruby (most likely blushing): "No I wasn't! Stop telling obvious lies!"

Ragna: "Yeah yeah, whatever..."

Yu: "See? He's into it too."

Ragna: "That's not what I... You know what, let's just get this over with."

Ruby: "Right through this door... Alright, take the blindfold off and open your eyes."

Ragna: "Got it, I... what the...?"

Yu/Hyde/Ruby: "HAPPY BIRTHDAY RAGNA!"

 **Before Ragna is a large room with tables with all of his friends and allies (and some enemies too) seated at tables with decorations, a large cake, and plenty of punch... and some booze that Kagura brought and was already getting drunk on.**

Ragna: "You... you knew?"

Hyde: "Yep, the writer left us all specific instructions to throw you a small birthday party... though he says he can't make it. Something about his cousin's birthday or something."

Ragna: "There's goes my chance of asking him for a raise... Seriously though, you guys didn't have to do all of this."

Yu: "Well we did, so go out and enjoy yourself... though, mind the Party Crashers."

Ragna: "Uh oh."

Hyde: "Yeah a few people came in from our own worlds in order to enjoy the party... I mean, I think you'll probably be fine with most of my friends, but some of my adversaries..."

?: "I take it you're today's man of the hour?"

Hyde: "Great, there's one now... and you know that's two measurements of time, right?"

Gordeau (smiling): "True, but I'm not one to sweat the small stuff. I'm also not one of those guys that's here to start trouble, so relax and let me say my part."

Ragna: "You... you're that _Greed Harvester_ , aren't you?"

Gordeau: "Nice to meet you, _Dream Taker._ I just wanted to introduce myself to a fellow scythe user, two now that I think about... it. Where'd she-?"

Yu: "Ruby went to assault the cookie display the instant before you got here."

Ruby (off-screen): "MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Gordeau: "Heh, some kids just won't change... Be looking forward to seeing what moves you've got. I'm hoping you'll either give me a good fight or make a decent partner."

Ragna: "You seem to be fine with either option though... more power to ya I guess."

 _ **The Reaper then heads off to enjoy his party, only to be stopped by-**_

"BROTHER!"

 _ **...A familiar annoyance.**_

Ragna: "Jin, please... Not on my Birthday."

Jin: "Oh, but brother... I just HAVE to give you your birthday gift now! You love _Star Wars_ , DON'T YOU!?"

Ragna: "It's... okay, I guess. What does that have to do with... is that Noel?"

Jin (ecstatic): "Yes brother, it is that garbage... FROZEN IN CARBONITE!"

Ragna: "YOU ASSHOLE!"

Jin (bloodthirsty): "YEEEES BROTHER! POINT YOUR BLADE AT ME!"

Noel (frozen in carbonite): "Mmmmmmmmm!" (Get me out of this thing!)

Hyde: "You're giving this gift to Ragna? You realize that if he hangs it on a wall like it's meant to be, he'd be looking at Noel most of the time."

Jin: "HE'D WHAT!? THIS CAN'T STAND! I MUST CORRECT THIS IMMEDIATELY!"

 _ **Jin then leaves the party, much to everyone's relief.**_

Ragna: "What IS his problem?"

Yu: "Just try to ignore it. Here, I'll introduce you to someone a bit more normal. Kanji!"

Kanji: "Eh? Did you need something Senpai?"

Yu: "I just wanted to introduce you to the guy that we're throwing this party for. Ragna this is Kanji Tatsumi, he's a good friend and he was a member of the Investigation team I was on."

Ragna: "Right, you brought up this guy before. Well, nice to meet you I guess, Kan... uh, you okay?"

Kanji (blushing): "Huh? W-Why wouldn't I be?"

Ragna: "Your face is... oddly red..."

Kanji (nervous): "I... um, I had something spicy just now. Gotta grab some water! ...Maybe one of those cupcakes with the little puppy ears while I'm there."

 _ **Kanji runs off**_

Ragna: "You said that you'd introduce me to someone normal..."

Yu (sweat-dropping): "Maybe I should've introduced you to Yosuke then... Kanji might be a little off at first, but I doubt you'll find a more loyal or honest friend out there."

Ragna: "I don't exactly have a high bar for those sorts of things, so I'll have to take your word for it."

?: "Aw, how can you say something like that?"

Ragna (suddenly put in a head lock): "URK! ...*Sigh* Hey Yang."

Yang: "Hey yourself, big guy! Happy Twenty-Something! Unless you're somehow in your late teens and none of us are the wiser."

Ragna: "Beats the hell out of me. So what are you really here for? I know you're as big of a Party Crasher as one can get, but you came to me for something."

Yang: "Just wanted to make sure that you took good care of my kid sister, we both know that if anything happens to her under your watch..."

Ragna: "You'll find a way to tear a way through dimensions like Azrael and kick my ass, I'm aware..."

Yang: "...I was just going to to hit you at some random point in an Omake."

Ragna: "Oh, well I don't want that to happen either."

Yu: "Wait, WHAT can Azrael do!?"

Ragna: "Uh... I think we're about to cut the cake!"

Hyde: "Don't avoid the question! We're supposed to be fighting that thing!"

Ruby (at the cookie display): "Chocolate Chip Cookies!"

Noel: "MMMMMMPH!" (I'M STILL TRAPPED IN HERE!)

 _ **Until Next Time! CIAO!**_


	6. A First Threat

_**Rebellion the Fourth: A First Threat  
**_

"Why does it always have to be me?" a familiar maid groaned to herself aloud as she headed down the hallways of the temple. While it was true that she'd been somewhat deflated when she'd attended to the more... embarrassing duties of caring for the unconscious forms of the heroes, dealing with them after they had awoken was downright terrifying. She was afraid that she wouldn't be able to keep her voice for much longer if she kept having to see the four.

"Okay, that's not entirely true; three of them seem fine, but that first guy..." She sighed as she thought back to the first one that had woken up, how he had blasted that thick door from its hinges and those violent eyes looking at her. A run in with anyone of that type would be too much, even if she was the princess's most trusted maid. "I hope he's not too grumpy when he gets up in the morning," she begged aloud as she entered the final hallway. "If I scream again-"

"If you do, I'm going to get annoyed," a gruff and familiar voice said to her. The maid's hands quickly shot to her mouth as she realized who it was that had spoken. Ragna was leaning against the wall besides the doors opening, his arms crossed and he waited moodily. Struggling to look at the red coated man in the eye, the maid saw those same intimidating red and green eyes. "Do you _always_ scream when you see me?"

"I... I apologize," she said to him, a slight blush on her face as she was unable to keep eye contact. "I just wanted to let you and the others know that the princess will be leaving soon and she hoped to see you before she left."

"Me in particular, or our whole group?" he asked nonchalantly.

"I-If the others have recovered from the ritual, then all of you," the maid told him, pushing away a strand of blond hair that had escaped from her bun. "Have they already awoken?"

"From the ritual yeah, but we sort of had a late night," Ragna told her as he gestured inside to where the three were sleeping in their beds.

"Oh... A-And you're not with them?" the maid asked, shivering with fright on the inside at the mere action of Ragna raising an eyebrow at the question. "I-I mean-!"

"...You don't have to always be so terrified of me," Ragna told her with a groan. "This is far from my scariest side." _'Dammit Ragna, was that supposed to be reassuring?'_ "When's Marie leaving?"

"I-In an hour or so; we've prepared a small breakfast feast if you'd like to join us now."

"...Guess we can't pass up free food," Ragna sighed as he made his way into the bedrooms. "Oi! Up and at 'em!" The maid then peered inside and a saw all three of them groggily stirring from their rooms with a groan. "Yeah, yeah, I know. Just get up and we can get a meal before we need to head out."

Soon enough the maid was guiding the four of them, the younger three having had time to change out of the night clothes they'd been given and back into their regular clothing. While Ragna remained largely passive having been up for some time, Yu was fighting to stifle a yawn, Ruby was still rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, and Hyde was trying to make his bed styled hair look normal... well like it normally did at least. Soon enough they'd been guided into a hall which housed a long table. The princess was sitting at the head of the table awaiting the four while her captain of the guard, Lady Lavell, stood guard behind her. The maid then bowed as she approached before heading over to the other wall and joining a group of four other maids.

"Thank you for joining me so early in the morning, I'm glad that we could all dine together at least once," she greeted trying to smile pleasantly at the four of them.

"Thank you for having us," Yu said, trying to put a kind smile on his face (and give his _Sex Appeal_ skill a second try). This time he noticed that the slightest of pinks began to slowly light the princess's cheeks... he took that as a success. The four then took their seats at the table with Ragna and Yu sitting across from each other closest to the princess's place at the head of the long table. Ruby sat besides Ragna and Hyde beside Yu.

"I hope that the four of you are... adjusting to this new realm easily enough. I can understand if any of you are feeling overwhelmed," she told the four, sounding genuinely concerned.

"It... might have been a little hard at first, but I mean it wasn't all bad," Ruby tried to assure the princess. "I mean... Ragna had already been here for a bit before we were, so at least we have a little understanding from him."

"Doesn't change the fact that the only places we've seen are the inside of this temple," Ragna decided to comment. "I need to know anything we'd need to in order to make it out there; all of this secrecy isn't going to matter for jack if we die this early on."

"You sell yourself short," Lavell said to the Reaper who only raised an eye brow. "Any man who's shown the combat ability that you have is more than a match than anything you'll find in this region. This is actually the most peaceful region in the entire kingdom, as such I think it would be the perfect place for the four of you to begin your journey and learn the many inner workings of our world."

"We already did a bit of 'exploring' last night," Hyde decided to inform as he showed his information screen something that left both Lavell and Marie visibly shocked. "Yeah, we were surprised when we first saw them ourselves, but a little work with 'em and we managed to figure out the basics."

"Th-that's incredible, just what I should have expected from the heroes of prophecy," the princess said, with nothing but pleasant surprise in her voice. "Did you manage to find the skill system? Did you apply any of the starting points What type of skills interest you?"

"Err... We um..." Hyde began nervously, sweat slowly starting to drop down his face as he realized the skill he'd invested his point into. Glancing at Yu, it was odd to the blonde that the fellow High School student seemed as calmed and composed as ever.

"Yeah, why don't you tell us what skill you _both_ decided to put all five points into," a rather annoyed Ruby said as she glared at both boys. Neither of them said a thing in response, which would have left the room in silence if it hadn't been for Ragna's chuckling. "Eh?"

"Jeeze, you three..." Ragna muttered as he continued to chuckle a their antics before noticing that Hyde and Ruby were staring at him in confusion. "What's with you two?"

"You... you can laugh?" Hyde asked himself more than anyone else. Ragna rolled his eyes at the obnoxious question. "I'm serious here! With your dark and brooding complexion, I was starting to get worried."

"I think you might be focusing on that side of him a bit much," a sweat-dropping Yu said, already having seen a bit of Ragna's more humorous side earlier.

"Back to the topic of skills, I was wondering about something," Ragna requested and the princess nodded. "So long story short, I managed to max out and put ten points into my cooking skill last night. The food I made was... alright, but is that really the best the skill can be?"

"Eh? But your stew was really really good!" Ruby tried to tell him. "Shouldn't it be at its best if you put all of the skill points you could into your cooking skill?"

"Princess, if I may?" Lavell asked, before being given permission to speak by her charge. The princess nodded, though Lavell most often had such privilege with her and the knight only seemed to do this as a formality. "While the maximum number of points that you are allowed to put into your skill is still ten, it takes more to maximize a skill than just that. While it's true that putting points into the skill itself will grant you select bonuses while using the skill, it won't boost you skill to anywhere near its full potential."

"...That right?" Ragna questioned before letting out a sigh of relief. "Guess that means I'm not stuck making food at this level."

"Good news for us too; if the skill's to get that much better then the meals Ragna makes as a result will get better as well," Yu thought aloud, and Ragna started to feel an odd sense of pride at the words. "So how are you supposed to increase it beyond levels requirements? Is there a special process to do so?"

"Not a special one no, but one that will take a considerable amount of time," the knight told them. "The only way to properly increase the skill is to use it constantly and gain experience whenever you use it. It's a long process, considering that you'll have to acquire 90 levels this way."

"N-Ninety!?" Hyde exclaimed at the sheer volume of levels that maximizing a skill would require. "Then... then that means-!?"

"Then that means that the grub I helped make last night is only a _tenth_ of what I can really do," Ragna said cockily, a harsh wolf smile forming on his face.

"Only a tenth..." Ruby began as she thought over it, her mouth slowly starting to salivate. "What would food that good even taste like? And the cookies you could make..."

"We likely won't find out for some time since it's going to take so long to raise the skill," Yu reminded her. "He didn't even gain a single rank last night

"Meh, cooking's one of my favorite things to do so I don't mind," Ragna told him before considering the skill that _certain_ members had chosen. "The two of you though..." Yu and Hyde then turned to Ruby, leaving the Reaper to sigh. "I'm against this on several levels."

"Absolutely not," the only female member of the four said as she crossed her arms. "Build that skill with someone else."

"B-But Ruby-" Hyde tried to to protest.

"FIND SOMEONE ELSE!" Ruby angrily declared once more, leading both High School boys to look at each other guiltily.

"I... I believe there's something that I'm missing here," Marie asked nervously as Lavell only looked to be confused by the entire spectacle. "Is everything okay?"

Hyde was about to answer (and desperately find some way to retain his innocence), but that was when the doors into the dining hall burst open. One of the armored knights then immediately rushed over to the table, only to be intercepted by Lavell.

"Report," Lavell demanded with a scowl at the soldier's breech of protocol.

"My lady, the five knights that we've sent out to patrol the roads have returned, but they were followed by a complete swarm of spiders! There over thirty _Mountain Spiders_ and fifteen _Dire Spiders_! They're coming straight along the east path and will arrive here shortly!"

"Th-That many?" Lavell demanded from the man. "Are you certain?"

"Y-yes ma'am, they appeared to have arrived from the east woods, but we have no way of knowing for sure."

"A Spider group that large heading our way and in broad daylight..." Lavell began before shaking her head. "Rally the troops and align them over the temple walls and by the windows; we'll make our defensive stand there."

"Yes ma'am!" the soldier said as he hurried off with his orders.

"Are these Spiders really that dangerous?" Hyde asked with slight worry for the knights.

"Not normally in broad daylight; these things are nocturnal hunters, but with their superior numbers and deadly poisons they can be a threat to even more experienced warriors... But what on earth could have brought them here?"

"Ragna's abysmal luck maybe?" Ruby suggested, leading the Grim Reaper to glare at her. "What? It's possible isn't it?"

"Tch, pin this on me why don't you?" Ragna muttered as he rose and started heading to where the door where the soldier had left out of. "You guys want to go and play defensive go ahead; I'll beat those things before they even make it to the temple's walls."

"You can't be serious," Lavell groaned. "Did you not hear how many Spiders were out there? You'll be heavily out numbered!"

"Like I was a few days ago?" Ragna retorted, referring to his encounter with the knights. Lavell realized he had a point and conceded, though she didn't appreciate him bringing up her loss again. "Besides, I'll need the practice if I ever want to be as good as I used to be. Throw me a bone here."

"I-If you insist," Marie said. "Just please... be careful."

"He'll be fine," Yu said as the young man also rose to his feet, a steady hand on his katana's handle. "He's not going to be heading out alone."

"You're coming with me?" the Reaper asked with a scowl before he actually smirked. "Well if you're going to be fighting with me from here on out, we better start off somewhere."

"I'm all set too," Ruby said as she took a hold of _Crescent Rose_ in the weapon's combat form. "Just give me a shot at them and I'll blow 'em away!"

"I'd hoped to get breakfast before fighting, but I guess I'll have to grin and bear it," Hyde said as he rose to he feet. Leaving his left palm open, he reached his right hand and almost looked like he was pulling a long red katana out of it. "This is my sword; the _Insulator_. It can cut through almost any defense given enough strikes and lets me pull off some pretty devastating attacks."

"And now the secret's out," Ragna muttered as he started heading off.

"Hold a moment," Lavell asked him right before she unsheathed her longsword at her side and offered it to Ragna. "Take my sword with you; my instincts tell me that you could put it to good use and you'll need a weapon while you travel."

"Tch, I think that weapon's better suited for you than it is to me," Ragna said as he cracked his knuckles. "'Sides, you've already go a princess to guard, don't you?"

"Even still, I insist that you take my blade with you; it shall serve you well in your journeys to come. In my house, this is one of our sacred treasures; it's outside has never dulled nor ever been scratched in combat. We call this sword _**Grey Slayer**_ as it was the very blade that my family of warriors used to defeat the bandit king _Perilous the Grey_. _"_

"...Have it your way then," Ragna grumbled as he took the sword in his left hand and kept it at his side. "Are you sure that it's okay for me to take this, it sounds like it means a lot to your family."

"Please, it's just an heirloom that's been used for ceremony to lesser branches of my house like my own family. Most of the family treats it nothing more than a weapon with a little history behind it..." Lavell then bowed her head and Ragna could see the faintest hint of embarrassment in her checks. "In fact, you're actually doing me a favor by wielding it; you'd give my blade a hero's acclaim... which would be passed onto me..."

"Fine, I guess?" he agreed with uncertainty.

"How is that we put the points into the skill, and he still gets to use _Sex Appeal_?" Hyde whispered to Yu.

"Maybe his luck isn't as bad as we thought," Yu thought aloud, whispering back.

"Grr..." Yu and Hyde didn't realize it, but even if Ragna had lost most of his skills, strength, and techniques, his level of perception was still far beyond that of a normal human and he could hear the lot of them as clear as day. "...Let's go." Ragna then took the back handed sword which then attached to his weapon's belt. Of course...

"Wait, your belt can do that? Awesome!" Ruby said as she tried to get a look at how the sword was attaching itself. "Can it do that with all weapons!? What's the heaviest thing it's carried!? Does it work on all weapons or just swords!? What did you use before!?"

"Oi, oi, oi, calm down will ya?" Ragna said with a sigh as he headed out the doorway. "Let's get in position while we still have time. You can look at my belt all you want to later."

"Right!" Ruby said as the three then followed shortly behind. "I'm holding you to that!"

"Yare yare..."

"Now that I think about it Yu, you carry your katana with one hand, but you don't attach a sheath to your belt or anything. What do you do with it when you're fighting?" Hyde questioned.

"Most of the time I sort of throw it off to the side until I'm done fighting," Yu told him honestly before realizing what he was getting at. "Maybe you and Ragna have a point to all of your belts after all..."

As the four made their way to the combat area with a mild does of before battle banter, the princess then turned to her closest guard.

"Lavell, I need you to stand at the ready to assist them should they need it," the princess ordered.

"But Highness, your safety if my utmost priority," the knight told her in return. "There is no place for me but at your side with blade and shield ready. You and I both remember the oath my family has made and I made in turn."

"Of course I remember... I just know that as of now my role in the kingdom's future is negligible at best." Lavell was aghast at her leader's words. "My older siblings and their bickering for the throne takes the main attention of the royal house, yet my younger relative are trying to be morphed into diplomats and military leaders. I am neither of these, most likely destined to be married off by my father whenever he's in need of a wedding arrangement to secure his power and claim to the throne... my life is of little consequence compared to theirs."

"...Then I shall stand guard at the top of the wall at her highness's request," the blue haired knight said as she knelt before her ruler. "... And I will defend both the princess and her champion's with my own life 'till the day I am no more."

"..Thank you," the princess said, bowing her head at her longtime friend.

 _ **Outside the Temple Walls**_

"Looks like they're almost here," Hyde said as he looked over the horizon and saw the large groups of spider that was swarming towards the temple. "Everyone ready for a fight?"

"Just about," Ragna said as he glanced at Yu and nodded. The teen gave a nod in response before calling a blue card to his hand and crushing it, bringing out his Persona; _Izanagi._ Yu gave a small smirk as the other two looked over his otherworldly power and-

"Looks like one of those summons that Weiss was starting to do," Ruby said as she looked over the creature. "Nice weapon though."

"I knew a girl back home called Orie that could do something like this," Hyde also noted. "The overall design is different, but the similarity is there."

' _...No one's impressed by my powers,'_ Yu thought glumly to himself, having hoped to cause a bit of a start when he revealed it. Looking on, he saw the six feet long _Dire Spiders_ as well as the only slightly smaller four feet long _Mountain Spiders_. All of which were what you'd expect from a giant spider; long hairy legs, eight dark and daunting eyes, and rather dangerous chelicerae dripping with poison. "That a lot of them... So what's our plan of attack?"

"Can't say I'm the type to overthink these things," Ragna told them as he glanced to the sword in his hand before the top of the wall where Lavell was watching his group. Scoffing, he looked back to the approaching spider threat and rested his newly acquired blade on his shoulder. "Just stay close to me and put down as many of those freaks as you can. We'll figure it out as we go."

"Works for me," Ruby said as she turned her weapon into a sniper form. "Want me to see if I can take out one of two of them before they get to us?"

"If you get the shot go ahead and take it. Like I said, the big is stay close," Ragna warned once more.

"Looks like the big guy's got the whole 'leader' job," Hyde observed with a bit of whimsy as Ragna glared at him. "Eh? Not like I wanted it anyways."

' _I guess if he's the oldest and strongest of us, it does make sense,'_ Yu thought to himself. "Everyone ready?"

"You damned well better be; they're right on top of us," Ragna told them as he sprinted forward leaving the other three to follow closely behind. Reeling back, the Reaper effortlessly wielded the longsword with a single hand and swung the blade at the closest _Dire_ _Spider_ as it tried to reel up and lunge down upon the him. Ragna prepared himself for a gory display once the blade would cut through the spider... only the sword to shatter to pieces right in Ragna's hands. "Eh?"

"D-Did he just-!?" Lavell shouted as she stared at the Reaper who was just as surprised as he looked at the broken sword in his hands. "Th...THAT IDIOT!"

"Commander?" one of the worried soldiers asked as they saw Lavell's rage.

Down below, Ragna's spider was about to attack the Reaper while his attention was apparently focused on his ruined sword, but that was before the monster was blasted by a jolt of lightning, heavily damaged by a mass of swirling red energy, before being promptly shot in the head by Ruby's sniper before it fell to the floor. Ragna gave a short chuckle right as a _Mountain Spider_ leaped at him from afar, but he simply slammed his fist into it and sent the monster flying over the horizon. With the apparent threat right in front of them, the collection of spiders decided to surround the four instead of continuing onward towards the temple.

( _Cue **BlazBlue Chronophantasma** Blue Sanction_)

"Glad you've got us now?" Ruby asked Ragna as she stood back to back with him.

"I can think of a full dozen worse people to have here off the top of my head," Ragna told her as he kept his fists ready, at peace with the fact that they'd be his weapon from now on.

"Either you're happy to be with us or you've got to have lead one of the worst lives I've ever heard of," Hyde noted from Ragna's right at he kept his katana ready.

"My money's on the later at the moment," Yu decided as _Izanagi_ floated above him and waited to strike on Ragna's left side.

"Heh... safe bet," Ragna grinned right before the spiders swarmed them and the four returned the charge.

Being the strongest physically and overall, Ragna took a straight forward approach to beating these things; punching their light out until none of them were left moving. Uppercutting one of the creatures, Ragna sent it into the air right before spinning into a powerful kick and sending the creature flying through the air. Thrusting his leg downwards, Ragna managed to catch another of the creatures heads and crushed it into the floor. He rushed forward with a _**Hell's Fang**_ and managed to catch another monster with his attack, then trying to follow up with a burst of darkness from the ground, but that never arrived. Scowling, he simply drop kicked the creature and sent another one flying.

Using his Persona as his main method of attack, Yu instead waited for a spider to lunge at him before declaring for _Izanagi_ to make an attack. The spectral power then cleaved through one of the spiders and the two halves parted uselessly around the user. One of the smaller ones then tired to dash beneath the spirit to bite Yu, but he was prepared. Slashing his katana upwards, he managed to cut the spider across the face before stabbing his weapon into the opening.

Swinging the _Insulator_ with great force, Hyde managed to the cleave the front two of the spider's legs off. The creature gave a scream as it reeled back, but Hyde gave no quarter as he swung his blade upward through the monster's face. Due to the nature of his sword, the entire beast was cut in two with that single strike, though Hyde didn't stop to reveal in his work and instead stabbed his sword behind him and managed to catch another spider. This one, however, lived and tried to claw at the blond with its long legs. Hyde immediately retracted his blade and followed up with a _**Black Orbiter**_ to the creature's face.

Having more options for a ranged attacks, Ruby fired off a few shots with her Crescent _Rose_ most of them hitting the spider's side or catching one or two of their legs at best. One did manage to catch one of the creature's right in the face caused the monster's body to go still. When the monster's finally did reach her, Ruby tried to use her gun to give her some distance... but hadn't accounted that she hadn't started with a full salvo of bullets. Uselessly clicking her weapon a few times, one of the spiders rammed into her and caused her to lose her grip on her weapon.

"WHOA!" she screamed as she fell to the group, her weapon landing just a short ways away. One of the spiders came up and tried to bite her and Ruby struggled in her push to keep the thing from poisoning her. "Erk! Keep away!"

"HISSSSSAAAA!" the creature screamed as it got close on one of its bites.

"STOP IT!" Ruby shouted at the monster. That was when she was hit with a feeling that she'd only felt twice before. She felt a strong pulse of power hit her eyes and a bright flash followed shortly afterwards. When the light faded the monster in front of her was reeling in pain. "Was that-?"

"Keep your guard up damn it!" Ragna shouted as he rushed forward, blasting away three spiders with his fists. "Get your weapon and get back into it!"

"R-Right!" Ruby shouted as she used her _Speed Semblance_ , rushing over and between the monsters until she grabbed her weapon. Transforming it into it's scythe form, she then swiped the sickle and carved one of the creature's heads off. Flipping it forward, she then managed to pierce another spider and tear it apart. Pulling back the weapon out and flipping away, she almost flinched in reflex as a bullet somehow formed into her weapon's firing chamber. Firing another shot, she managed to catch another spider in the face and fell it instantly.

" _ **Vacant Shift!"**_ Hyde shouted as the leaped up into the air with a powerful slash that cleaved a target in half. He was still in the air when two other spider's leaped into the air. But, two additional slashes from his crimson sword dispatched them easily enough. Landing atop yet another spider, Hyde roughly stabbed the new target through the back of the head.

Yu himself was having a small amount of trouble dealing with his force of the spiders. Stabbing his katana through one of them, the monster didn't die and instead tried to rush forward and send him off of his feet. Yu grit his teeth and tried to keep the monster back before calling _Izanagi_ and having his Persona run the creature through. Cleaving away another spider, he then noticed a group of them rushing forward.

" _ **Zio!"**_ he called with vigor. A bolt of lightning then descended from the heavens and struck the group of spiders, causing them to go still.

' _Heh, these kids ain't half bad,'_ Ragna thought to himself with a nasty smirk as he managed to catch a spider and rip it in half with nothing but his bare hands. _'Looks I won't have to babysit them nearly as much as I thought._ ' Ragna then swung his leg high above and caught another leaping spider. Swinging the creature around on his foot, he brought to the floor and gruesomely crushed it. Only a few remained.

" _ **DEAD SPIKE!"**_ Ragna shouted, letting loose a terrible _Black Beast_ head from the ground. The mass of energy impacted the arachnids, blowing each of the creatures apart. Aside from the stunned gazes from the other three, Ragna was rather pleased with himself.

 _(End Theme)_

"That's the last of these things," the Reaper said as he allowed himself to relax. He was about to go into his status screen and check to see if he'd improved at all, but he saw something out of the corner of his eye that gave him pause; the hilt of the sword he'd broken. "...Lavell's not going to like this," he muttered as he headed over and picked the piece up.

"That weapon probably meant a lot to her," Yu admitted as he opened his own results screen. "Must have something to do with your abysmal luck stat."

"Great, 'cause of that thing now it ain't safe for me to use weapons," Ragna muttered as he opened up his screen. "...Well whatever I guess. How's everyone's level looking?"

"Just hit level three," Hyde decided to inform as he rested the _Insulator_ on his shoulder. "And like I thought, I got twelve more stat points to assign."

"Same with me," Ruby told everyone. "I don't see any new abilities though... how do you suppose we're supposed to get them?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," Yu said as he delved into his skill list. "Looks like I earned another skill point..." It was then the silver haired noticed Ruby's intense glare at him. "...I'll put it in another skill, okay?"

"You better," Ruby told him with a scowl before turning to Hyde. "The same goes for you!"

"Right, right," Hyde sighed as Ragna only rolled his eyes at the display. As the blond looked over the options to invest his skill point into, he noticed that the gates had opened and that a squad of knight's lead by Lavell was approaching the group. "...She doesn't look happy."

"Big shocker," Ragna said as he Lavell approached, glaring intensely at the Reaper. "...Saved you the hilt."

"This makes the second sword of mine that you've broken; both of which belonged to my family and _both_ of which I cared for," the commander told him as she forcefully took the hilt from Ragna's grasp. "This might have been an heirloom, but having it broken will not reflect well upon me with my family... I'm starting to think I can't trust you around my weapons."

"If it keeps you from pointing 'em at me, I'm for it," Ragna said, trying to make light of the situation. The glare Lavell was sending his way made it clear that he wasn't succeeding.

"If that's second sword then what was the first one?" Ruby asked.

"...Her greatsword, but to my defense I was _trying_ to break that one at the time," Ragna explained to her. The was when he noticed Ruby was holding her favorite scythe a good bit away from him. "I'm not going to destroy your weapon."

"I'm being safe," Ruby asserted. Ragna couldn't exactly find it in himself to blame her. "So um... what do we do with the spider bodies?"

"Presently it seems like the only thing that we can do is leave them for something else from the wild-lands to eat them," Lavell informed before sighing. "Sadly no one in my unit has the _Wilderness Survival_ skill; if you had that you could disassemble the creatures and sell the parts for a hefty profit."

" _Wilderness Survival_ skill?" Ruby asked meekly, then noticing that Hyde and Yu seemed to be looking at her with interest. "Eep!"

"She did say something about not _wasting_ our points, didn't she?" Yu asked the blonde.

"If we're remembering right, and I'm pretty sure we are," Hyde said in response with a teasing smile.

"Oi, oi, you don't have to torture it out of her," Ragna muttered darkly, only then noticing that Ruby was looking his way with pleading eyes. "...No." Her eyes got much bigger. "I said no." Crocodile tears started to form in her eyes. "Ruby..."

That was when a screen appeared before Ruby reading _'Gained One Rank in Bluff skill.'_ The young huntress immediately froze at the taller man as he shook his head in disappointment. One of the knights then offered Ruby a small knife in order to carve the creatures... and the process began.

 _Later -Temple Gates-_

"It looks like this will be the last we'll see of each other, at least for a short while," Princess Marie told the four out-worlders as they stood in front of the royal carriage that had been prepared to take her back to the capital. "Sadly there is very little that I can do for you four from here."

"Eh, not too big of a deal," Ruby said with a smile, despite being soaking wet. "You helped us get ready at least."

"Why is she so damp?" Hyde whispered to Yu.

"After she managed to take those creatures apart, she never left the bath until now," Yu whispered back. "Speaking of which, what happened to the parts that you were able to get from them?"

"They're inside this," came Lavell's voice as she made her way into the courtyard with a leather backpack close to the size that Yu and Hyde had used back in middle school.

"I thought you'd have been able to get more than that at least," Hyde said as he remembered the size of the creatures they'd been facing.

"There's a magical augmentation on the bag," the knight informed them. "It will allow you to store over a dozen times what could normally fit inside this back and its weight won't grow in the slightest. I've also stored a few thing that I hope you'll find useful when you're out on the road."

"Nifty," Ruby said with a smile as she took the backpack and put her arms through it. "Nice and light... so where are we headed from here?"

"I am headed for the castle town, but I wouldn't recommend following me just yet," Marie told the four. "My father's been against the idea of the summoning, and if you appeared in the capital along with me it wouldn't bode well... I'd suggest instead of heading north-east, you only head east towards the city of _Heavencliff._ "

"Heavencliff... So what can we expect to find there?" Ragna questioned.

"Unlike much of the kingdom, Heavencliff was in proper condition last I had heard," Lavell informed. "In fact, the Governor there is an old teacher of mine from my days in the Academy, he'll have been sure to keep the town is good condition."

"I should have asked this earlier, but are you certain that it's best if we head there?" Yu questioned. "I don't mean any disrespect, but you did summon the four of us in order to fix this kingdom. With the state that this town is likely in, I feel that we're needed elsewhere."

"That is true..." the princess admitted with something of a sad look in her eyes. "But, the threat will spread to that area eventually. I want you four to keep that from happening."

"I get it; we fix that problem early before the area's in trouble and we manage to get stronger along the way," Ragna noted before the princess nodded to him. "If things are as bad as you say that they are, we're going to need any levels we grab along the road."

"Speaking of levels, that does bring me to an important point," Lavell began. "You'll need to keep your status menu's closed while you journey though the kingdom. This is part of the heroes power and while you're here to fix our kingdom, we'd prefer it if you didn't announce your presence too early."

"Makes sense, and it's an easy fix," Hyde said with a shrug as his menu appeared in front of him before disappearing. "Now I'm the only guy that can see my screen."

"Excellent, with the four of you our kingdom may recover from this blight after all," Marie told them before bowing to the four of them. "I'll await news of your exploits to reach me in the capital and hopefully change what I can of my father's direction of thinking."

As the four watched the princess's carriage depart into the horizon, Hyde and Yu gave each other confident smiles, ready for the new adventure before them. Ruby as gave a smile to Ragna, but the older fighter merely rolled his eyes and started walking forward.

"Let's go," he ordered.

"Hey! It's an important moment! It's where we're starting our journey!" Ruby yelled at him as she followed closely behind. "Shouldn't you say something encouraging?"

"How about don't die?" Ragna suggested, not breaking his stride.

"That's just morbid!"

"It's as encouraging as I can get," the Reaper told her off.

"Jeeze..." Hyde said with a sigh. "Those two..."

"They'll make things interesting at least," Yu had to agree.

 _ **Author's Notes**_

 _ **I had this chapter almost done when I posted 'A Reaper's Game' so I sort of pushed myself to get it out... I'm going to need to come up with something quick if I still want a usual Friday update out. Anyways, I've got the review responses here so thanks for writing in. Omake will be presented afterwards.**_

 _EpicLinkSam:_ The Switch too? Jeeze 3/3 is a busy day.

 _Mugen7:_ I did end up trading Ragna's stats around a little to make a bit more sense.

 _BlackSavior_ : I had to push myself to do it.

 _The Unplanner:_ Good question, but it seems like there might be a chance to see just how far a fully evolved skill could go.

 _Mystech Master:_ I've got the backstory card up my sleeve as we speak, I'm just deciding when the most effective time to play it will be.

 _Guest (1):_ It wouldn't be Ragna otherwise I'm afraid.

 _A Special Kind of Stupid:_ ...It's an idea.

 _Guest (2)_ : Perhaps I'll address that point in more detail down the line.

 _Ptl_ : Yu's only got Izanagi thusfar.

 _ARSLOTHES:_ Here's the next chapter.

 _Guest (3)_ : Yare yare daze... It isn't that finely connected to Jojo's Bizarre Adventure.

 _ **Here's your Omake!**_

 _Covering Weakness_

"WAAAAAHHHHAAAA!" Ruby screamed as she sailed through the air. Landing on the grassy ground with a small and muffled crash, she grimaced as she laid their in minor pain. "Owwwwwwwww..."

"Oh c'mon, I didn't even hit you that hard," Ragna muttered to himself as he crossed his arms. "I know you said that your unarmed combat needed work, but this is just plain ridiculous."

"I was working on it before I left," Ruby told him as she slowly managed to rise to her feet. "I never said that I was very good at it..."

"Tch, either way it still needs work. Again," Ragna demanded with a scowl. Ruby was still recovering from his last attack, but her 'teacher' wasn't in much of a mood for waiting. Rushing forward, Ragna's fist nearly made contact with the young huntress in training before she used her speed semblance to barely avoid the attack. "Least you can dodge."

"Ohhh! Now you're asking for it!" Ruby declared as she rushed forward right at the Reaper. Ragna once more punched forward, but Ruby dodged to the side to get around him. Positioned behind him, Ruby was about to try and attack his blind spot, but Ragna then turned into a powerful backhand. "Eeep!" Ruby yelped as she managed to duck the attack. With Ragna positioned right over her, Ruby thrust her head upwards in one of her only unarmed maneuvers. In theory it was the right approach; in practice... "OW!" Not so much.

"...Okay then," Ragna said as he stared down at the huntress in training who was only rubbing the soar spot on her head after she'd tried to ram it into her opponent.

"How tough are you!?" she shouted at the Reaper.

"Damned if I know for real, but I can at least tell that you need work," Ragna told her as he crossed his arms. "You came to me for this Ruby, so I don't want to hear any complaints from you."

"Okay, okay, I got it..." Ruby groaned as she slowly got to her feet, dusting of her black corset and white sleeves as she did so.

"I'm serious here," Ragna told her with a scowl so intense, Ruby nearly flinched at it. "Without that little toy of yours, all you can do is use your semblance to run. And if your semblance ever shuts down or you can't get away, what then?"

"Then I count on you and the others," Ruby tried to tell him, only for Ragna's scowl to grow all the more fiercer. "I'm not kidding around Ragna!"

"And I am?" the Reaper rhetorically questioned the younger girl as he gripped the bridge of his nose and groaned. "You've only got one chance Ruby, and losing your weapon ain't putting any odds in your favor. We can't completely cover for you."

"Just the same way I can't completely cover for you," Ruby tried to tell him. Ragna wasn't angry, but he did raising an eyebrow at Ruby's accusation. "You can't attack at a range at all, can you? Even that _Dead Spike_ of yours barely covers any ground and it'd be useless against a flying opponent. That's what the rest of us have to cover for, getting any monsters that you can't catch with your fists."

"...You have a point, at least for now," Ragna told her with a sigh. "And it's not like Yu and Hyde are that much better without powers or a weapon..."

"Great, so we'll reconvene with both of them tomorrow," Ruby told him with a smile as she started to make her way to the others.

"When did I say we were done here?" her current instructor asked, leaving her to freeze in place. "Even if I agree that we need to get Yu and Hyde on the same page, that doesn't mean you're getting off today scot-free. Break's over, kid."

"Aww..." Ruby groaned as she saw Ragna had already gone into a battle stance. "I'm starting to think that you just don't care if I wake up tomorrow with bruises."

 _'That's what she thinks,'_ Ragna internally told himself as he guarded against Ruby's _Speed Semblance_ rush. _'Truth is... Can't remember the last time I actually cared about something like this...'_ He then countered with a series of punches, light enough that Ruby could guard against but hard enough to pressure her. ' _Maybe that's why I feel like I gotta go hard on her.'_

 _ **'Till Next Time Folks!**_

 _ **Ciao!**_


	7. Doing What's Necessary

_**Rebellion the Fifth: Doing What's Necessary**_

"Is that what I think it is?" Hyde asked as the group looked onward down the path that would lead the party of four to _Heavencliff._ It was only a few hours after they'd finally left the temple, but it had proven to be a rather long travel with the amount of spiders and feral dogs the group was forced to fight through. The road up ahead though held a… different challenge.

"Sadly I think so," Yu told him as his gray eyes rested upon the figures of eight men and two women that appeared to be dressed in rusty armor and wielded chipped weapons. None of them looked like they'd enjoyed a bath recently and they looked to be stained by the blood of others; some of it dry... some of it recent. A few tents were posted by a short distance from where they were standing... and a small pile where flies were buzzing around nearby. "Highway bandits."

"How do you want to handle this?" Ruby asked as she looked around the plains that the group was traveling through. "They probably haven't seen us yet, but I can't think of anywhere that we can go to hide..."

"We could try to pay them off," Yu suggested, looking at Ruby's pack. Thanks to their oldest member's abysmal luck stat (that seemed to be the cause at least), the group had encountered and dismantled countless monsters on their journey through the plains. "Marie and the soldiers didn't give us much gold, but maybe if they want some of the spider parts-"

"They'd just demand the venom sacs," Ragna cut in. He was acting more serious than usual with his arms crossed and it was pretty clear that he wasn't pleased. "And if you give 'em those, I think they'll end up using them on travelers, maybe ever try 'em on us once they get them."

"Well... We could just try to knock 'em out," Hyde offered, though it was somewhat weakly. "We just need to move in fast enough so they can't prepare and-"

"It's too risky; they outnumber us and we don't know what they're actually capable of," their apparent leader cut in again. "And none of that would fix the _real_ problem."

"...You're saying that we need to kill them?" Yu demanded from Ragna. No response. "I've been through my share of challenges and close calls, but it's never come to that. I've never had to-"

"What about those _monsters_ that we face?" Ragna demanded, though his voice was calm. It was his first time trying to reason with someone on an issue like this, and as hard as it was he decided he'd have to be patient.

"Those are... they're... it just..." Ruby tried to argue back, but had a hard time finding the words. Sure she'd 'killed' a fair amount of _Grimm_ back in her own world, but those things were ravenous berserking beasts. These were flesh and blood people. "It's... different."

"And this is a different world so there are different rules," Ragna told them. "You can see they're all covered in blood and they have that pile right next to 'em? They'd never give us the same mercy, so don't give them any benefit of doubt."

"What if we can manage to knock them out and take them back to _Heavencliff_ with us?" Ruby tried to suggest. "You're still really strong and we haven't arranged our stat points just yet, if we do that now-"

"Even if that _did_ work, we'd have to worry about them the rest of the way to _Heavencliff_ and you all know the kind of fights my _Luck_ has been getting us into," he reminded them. "We'd never manage... and even if we did all we'd likely do is get the town to kill them in our place in an execution."

"...You're talking like you've killed someone before," Hyde accused Ragna, scowling in his direction.

"...Let's just say I had to earn the title of _Grim Reaper_ back home." The group didn't say anything, thought it was clear that Ragna wasn't joking either. "...Stay back here, this won't take long."

"You're doing this alone?" Ruby asked him. "Ragna..."

"Don't feel like you've got to watch what I'm about to do; you three ain't ready for this," he told them as he started walking, but then stopped. "It's stupid thinking... probably impossible too, but..."

"But?" Yu repeated, trying to understand what the older warrior was trying to get at.

"...I just hope you never have to be." Without another word, Ragna headed off.

"So... he's been a killer this whole time," Hyde muttered sadly. "Not going to lie... I was sort of getting that vibe from him."

"Killer might be a little too harsh though," Yu tried to say in Ragna's defense. "You remember what Lavell said? He had to fight through a group of knights when he awakened first and he didn't kill any of them. He even said that he'd help to restore the kingdom... I don't think he's necessarily a bad person."

"What do you think it was?" Ruby had to ask. "If he doesn't like to kill... what on earth had to happen to him in his home world to push him that far?" No one knew, as much as everyone in the group was a mystery to each other Ragna was probably the biggest mystery of them all.

On the Reaper's side, it was clear that the bandits on the road had taken notice of him. The group of ten was readying their weapons and standing on guard with nasty snarls. Ragna didn't get into a ready combative stance right away, stopping just a short distance in front of them.

"Leaving the kids back while you talk to us? Won't do them a lot of good if you can't pay the toll; we'll do to 'em what we'll do to you." He didn't say anything in response, just continuing to glare harshly at them. "You trying to scare us off, or are you just too damn stupid speak?" Ragna didn't say anything. "Tch... answer us, or do you want to join the poor bastards on the pile?"

He remained silent, but as he stole a quick glance to the mass of gathered bodies, he caught sight of something that made his blood boil. Gritting his teeth so hard that a small drop of blood emerged from his mouth, Ragna's glare as he turned back at the bandits was nearly demonic. A fair few of them nearly stumbled back a bit at the display, but one or two tried to stay steady. A small screen appeared in front of him, letting him know he'd gained two ranks in his _Intimidation_ skill, but he couldn't be bothered with it.

" _You're dead..."_

"That's all you've got to say!?" one of the braver (stupider) bandits laughed. "What 're you? Some kinda hero!? What a load of-!"

 _ **CRACK!**_

Ragna's fist had sailed forward, hitting the lead bandit straight in the head. Not only was the highwayman sent flying, but the force at which he was hit was enough for his neck to snap and kill him immediately. The other bandits watched in terror as their leader hit the ground, part of his face smashed in and sagging grotesquely. They were frozen for all of a moment as Ragna gained yet another rank of _Intimidation_. Trying to overwhelm him with pure numbers, they then rushed forward with weapon swinging wildly to carve the flesh from Ragna's body.

...And the massacre began anew.

 _Later -Evening-_

The group continued their travels, this time in abject silence. None of the three had seen Ragna's 'work' on the bandits, but they'd all seen their bodies afterwards. Ragna had lit the bodies of innocent victims turning them to a large pile of ash, but had told them to leave the bandits for the wolves. They bandits themselves didn't have much save for their rusty equipment and the coin that they had on them, likely what they'd taken from the travelers they'd robbed. Now the four were hoping with an encounter with beasts to have something to keep their mind off killing people... but their earlier encounters seemed to be tied more and more to Ragna's luck stat, for now they encountered none.

"There's the town up ahead," Ragna noted, though it should've been obvious. From his journey from Kagutsuchi to Ikaruga he'd learn the value of a silent journey since the ever obnoxious Tao had been his traveling companion, but this type of silence was actually making him miss the insane antics of his from his Kaka clan companion. The Reaper sighed to himself and kept walking just a bit in front of the others. "...Right then."

The city was surrounded by a large stone wall and had entrances to both the west and the south. As Ragna and his companions headed through into the farmlands that surrounded the city, they came across two soldiers armed with spears waiting at the farmland gates.

"Hold there a moment," one of the soldiers demanded, though not rudely or with hostility. "State yer business."

"Food, lodgings, maybe grab some supplies while we're here," Ragna informed seriously.

"And the weapons?" the guard asked.

"We need some form of protection against the spiders," Yu input. "There seemed to be... several on the road when we traveled." He informed, thinking of the countless encounters that the crew has been left to deal with.

"Aye, there have been many of them seen these days... some in broad daylight," the second guard said before shaking his head. "I just hope that those damn things can solve our bandit problem, those bastards have caused us no end of trouble."

"I can imagine; we actually came across a group of them on the road," Ragna decided to inform. The two guards looked at each other, with a hard to read expression on their faces. "There were ten of 'em; eight men and two women."

"I... I see," one of the guards said. "And?"

"...I dealt with them," Ragna told them.

"Was there-?" one of them tried to ask, but Ragna raised his hand to stop him.

"Pretty sure I know what you're going to ask, and yeah... I saw him." None of the party besides Ragna knew what he was talking about, but the soldiers just gave a small nod.

"There's a small church just a ways in and to the left. Ask the clerics for Diane... she'll be there. I'd tell her myself, but I can't leave my post."

"...Guess I'd better," Ragna said as the guard's parted to allow the group into the outer farming village. "Find us somewhere to spend the night, I'll take care of this myself."

"Splitting up isn't a good idea; we should stick together for now since this is a new town," Hyde tried to tell him, but Ragna kept his arms crossed and glared at the youth. "...Just saying..."

"Let's split up into teams of two then," Ruby suggested, leading everyone to glance at her in concern. "I'll go with Ragna for right now, and the rest of you can head into the city and try to find some lodgings. That way we should be able to find each other easily enough and no one's left by themselves."

"That... may be our best option moving forward," Yu agreed as Ruby handed him a few golden coins for Inn fare. "Come on, let's find a place in town."

"Right... we'll see you there," Hyde said. And the two left, leaving Ragna with Ruby.

"All that and you really want to stick with me kid?" he asked before shaking his head. "You're insane."

"I'm not insane, you're just too much of the brooding type," she tried to tell him. Ragna didn't appear to be in much of a mood for arguing, and simply gave a short sigh as they headed to the church. As they walked through the small outer community, Ruby noticed the occasional villager giving them a scowl as they passed by, others simply tried to keep their head down to avoid notice, and some mothers ushered their kids inside so they'd avoid the two. "...They seem scared. I thought that Marie said that this place was safe."

"She said it was last she heard, meaning this spider threat must be new," Ragna hypothesized. "Also... this might _still_ be the best off town out there for all we know." Ruby didn't say anything; it may have been a bleak thought, but she had a suspicion that Ragna may be right. "...Here's the church now."

The church itself was small, wooden, and simple. It was somewhat reminiscent of the church Ragna had grown up in with Celica and his younger siblings and was even about the same size. Shaking the memory out of his mind, he looked down to Ruby.

"Wait here," he ordered. Silver eyes glared back at him, letting him know that she wasn't going to listen to what he said. "Tch... fine then." Opening the doors to the church he lead them inside.

Like the outside, the inside of the church was similar to the layout of Ragna's old home. Pews were aligned along an central aisle which lead to the main alter. The altar was surrounded by several artifacts; some showing a type of animal while others showed off a type of carved insignia. The was no priest at the front to lead mass, but there were still families deep in prayer. Noticing the newcomers, one of the young ladies dressed in cleric robes headed to the front to great the two.

"Welcome to our small house of the divines," she greeted trying to seem warm and welcoming with a smile. Ragna considered himself fortunate that this woman had green hair at least instead of Celica's red and her additional glasses because had been starting to become a little too familiar for his liking. "Are you both familiar to the faith or is this your first time in prayer?"

"Afraid we're not here for that," Ragna told the young woman, who seemed slightly disappointed. "I'm actually looking for Diane."

"Oh..." the cleric said as he she glanced towards the pews. Following her line of sight, Ruby realized she was looking at a young couple sighting side by side on one of the pews close to the front of the room. Both of them looked like they were fervently praying and judging by the dark circles under their eyes, it was apparent neither had slept well recently. "Now's... not exactly the best time. You see-"

"That's why I'm here," Ragna interrupted, looking serious.

The cleric was silent for a moment before nodding and heading towards the couple. Ruby was starting to get the picture and she didn't like it. After the cleric said a few words from a distance, the couple rose from the pews and headed towards the two at the entrance. The man's hair and whiskers were a bright shade of brown while the woman's hair was a much darker black, almost that of a raven. The husband's eye color was a powerful cobalt while the mother's was a much more subtle emerald. Soon they were standing before the two, their tense stace making it clear they dreaded the question they'd have to ask.

"So... you... you have news on our son?" the man asked, looking desperate for answers.

"...Afraid so," Ragna told them, though by his tone and wording it was clear to them that it wasn't good news. He then looked between the mother and father. "Your hair color and her eye color?"

"Th-that's him; that's our Digory!" the woman exclaimed, interrupting the prayer of the people around them. "I-Is he-!?"

"...I'm sorry," Ragna said as he shook his head. "He was already gone when I saw him."

Somewhat surprisingly, the woman didn't let out any sudden screams; as much as she might pray in the church she held her faith in, she knew her son's safe return had been next to impossible. That didn't mean that her eyes weren't tearing up as she nearly lost her balance, only to be caught by her husband.

"He... he didn't even make it to his seventh winter..." she cried, her voice little more than a whisper. "Why... why would the gods take him away so young...?" She then looked at Ragna. "Wh-what did you do with the body?"

"Sorry again, but his wasn't the only one we found," Ragna told her. "There was no way we could bring them all back with us, so we lit the pile on fire and turned it to ashes."

"They just threw him on a pile... those bastards..." the father said through gritted teeth at the inhumanity.

"...It's not much, but I dealt with the bandits; they won't be a problem for anyone ever again," the Reaper explained to the family as he turned to leave. "Just thought you should know."

"...Thank you for at least giving him closure; I'm sure his soul shall find rest now," the husband explained as reached into his pockets. "We don't have much, but-"

"Keep it; you've already lost enough," Ragna refused.

"But we should pay you back somehow," the father tried to convince. "You've done us-"

"I didn't _do_ anything," he shot them down with his back turned to both of them. "I was on the road and those bandits were in my way. I just happened to see your son and thought you should know." His words were harsh, but they weren't without meaning.

"...Young lady," the mourning mother said, directing her words to Ruby.

"Yes?" Ruby responded, though it was clear that she was saddened by the events.

"...You've got a good teacher here; even if the man himself wants to deny it... Be sure you listen to what he has to say," she instructed her.

"Teacher?" Ragna repeated with an eyebrow raised. Well, he and Ruby were currently flying similar colors and she was the only one with him at the moment... he could see where the mistake was coming from.

"Uh... yeah, I'll be sure to," she told them, not exactly in the mood to correct a grieving family that had lost their son. "We... we need to be going now."

Nodding, the couple made their way back to the pews that they'd been sitting in, now to mourn the official loss of their son. Gesturing with his head, Ragna lead his 'student' out of the church, only for a small screen to appear in front of him as he exited the small chapel. _Gained Title: Heavencliff's Beginning Savior_. Rolling his eyes, he mentally closed the screen and decided he'd discuss it with his team later.

"So..." Ruby tried to begin as the two made their way towards the inner city where Hyde and Yu would hopefully be waiting for them at an inn. The orange light cast over the two as the sun began to set gave the scene a sense of melancholy.

"This is why I didn't want you to follow me," Ragna told her. "You didn't have to be there to see that."

For a moment Ruby didn't say anything and the two traveled in the same awkward silence that Ragna was growing ever further hatred for. Forget Tao's insane antics and her constant demands for food, he was starting to think that he'd rather have to deal with Rachel's barrage of insults than this atmosphere.

"You... You used to go by _Grim Reaper..._ right?"

"What about it?" Ragna asked, knowing that this was going to be a question about his past.

"Does that mean you used to use a scythe?" That... hadn't been the question he'd been expecting. "I mean you've got that belt on you that could hold Lavell's sword and you've got that title... Did you?"

"None of..." Ragna had considered turning Ruby's question down, but they were both already going through a pretty bummer of a day. There was no need for him to make it any worse for her. "Yeah I did... well, part of the time anyways."

"Part of the time?" Ruby asked. The corners of Ragna's mouth tugged upwards as he noticed the hopeful sparkles in her eyes... he decided to deliver in full.

"I had a weapon that could go into two different forms. Rest of the time it was this giant ass sword that I used to swing around," he explained as Ruby's eyes grew even shinier. "Didn't have a gun function, but it had this sort of revolver part on it that could store this energy called _Seither_."

"Th-that's awesome!" Ruby exclaimed. "My uncle actually has a weapon that could do that! I mean, his could fire bullets when it was a sword, but it's still really close to what you had! So what's this _Seither_ stuff do? Did it have the same kind of powers that you normally use!? How much did your weapon weigh!? What was it called!?" Despite what Ragna had just gone though, he couldn't help but chuckle at Ruby's energetic questioning... maybe he needed someone like her around more than he'd thought.

 _Meanwhile -Inside the City-_

"You think those two are okay?" Hyde asked as he and Yu walked the streets trying to find an inn where they could spend the night.

"They should be; Ragna hasn't changed Hyde, we're just seeing a different side of him," Yu reminded, though trying to keep himself confident to some degree.

"I know, I know, it's just... those two looked like they were about to deal with some pretty heavy stuff and Ruby seems a little... I think innocent would be the right word."

"I guess that's fair," Yu had to agree. Glancing at one of the buildings that they'd passed by, he saw a small sign hanging over the door that read _The Journeyman's Reprieve._ "This looks like a decent place to spend the night, Let's go check their prices."

"Somewhere I can sit down and grab something to eat is all I need," Hyde told him as the two headed inside. "Maybe this whole thing will feel better once we both get some food in us. That's what I usually find happens back home."

As the two entered the Inn they took a look around and got a general feel of the place that they might be staying in. While the wood that held the foundation looked like it was starting to get a little old, the place appeared to be clean and well kept. Several tables housed the patrons who were here for either food or drink. The food itself appeared to be decent to the two, but they suspected that Ragna might be able to manage even better. As they looked around, a girl at about the same age as them with blond hair done up in a pun and an tan apron approached them.

"Welcome! Are you here to find a room for the night or do you just want to have some food?" she asked the two pleasantly with a kind smile.

"We'll be wanting a room later, but getting some food now sounds nice," Hyde said, before figuring he'd try his _Sex Appeal_ skill (hey, he's got to use it at some point). "Though I don't know if this region or inn has any dishes that it'd be well known for. I'd love to hear any recommendations," he said, trying to put on his best smile.

"Certainly sir," this way, the girl told him with a more neutral smile as she lead them forward.

' _Guess it didn't have any effect, nothing obvious anyways,_ ' he thought to himself with small disappointment before noticing some parchment hanging over a portion of the wall they were passing. "Hmm? Is that a request board?"

"Yep; this is where people post their personal requests and we even have some jobs offered by the Governor," she told them. "Our town's in something of a remote part of the kingdom, so we don't have any kind of guild dedicated to protecting the town… Truth to be told, there aren't a lot people here looking for work either, so if you know how to fight you won't have much competition searching for jobs." She smiled pleasantly at the two before seeing the silver haired one staring at the wall. "Is something wrong?"

"Hyde…" Yu began.

"I see the one," the blonde said as he glared at one of the requests. Illustrated on the front was a man and a woman… both of whom were in the bandit groups they'd encountered on the road.

"Wait… Have… Have you seen them!?" the young girl asked them almost frantically. Hyde took a step back at her sudden outburst.

"Well… you see…" he tried to say.

"Liza, don't bother the customers," a new and strick voice said. Turning their heads, the two boys found an older woman that looked much like the girl helping them. "Get them seated and get their orders, I don't want you scaring either of them off."

"Y-yes mom," Liza said, a slight blush at her outburst.

"It's no trouble on our end, really," Hyde said with a slightly awkward smile at Liza as he scratched behind the back of his head. "Trust me, we're both fine; you're the one I'm worried about." This seemed to put the serving girl slightly at ease.

 _Gained One Rank to Sex Appeal_

" _YES!"_ he thought with victory in his mind. He had to fight slightly to contain his excitement… though it appeared his present partner had other things to worry about.

"I have to say I'm a little… concerned," Yu said as he looked at the poster. "This is a bounty notice, isn't it?"

"Yeah it is…" Lisa told him, though it was clear her thoughts were elsewhere… and they weren't happy ones.

"You seem to care quite a bit about this particular bounty," Yu noted as she guided them to their table. "I don't want to be rude, but would you mind telling us why?"

"It's… it's because they took away someone very important to me; a young boy named Digory," she said as she brought them to their table. "He… he was something of a rascal in town, always playing pranks on the adults and telling rude jokes to the other children, but he was a good kid... Sometimes he'd bring me flowers and promise that he would marry me when he got older, even if the others teased him about it." Her smile was bittersweet as she thought back. "Then one day those two in the poster snuck into our village and kidnapped him. They demanded a ransom of supplies and silver for his safe return… but after we paid it, they just stole away with him anyways…"

"That's… awful…" Yu said, understanding the fear of losing someone all too well after a tense situation with Nanako.

"It's even worse for his parents; they keep praying at the church, hoping that they'll get a sign for their son's safe return… they've been praying for over a week."

"The church? The one by the west city gate?" Hyde asked and the girl nodded. "Oh… we… we passed by there on our way into town."

"Right… so do you want me to get something started for you to eat then?" she asked, forcing herself to put on her best and most friendly smile as she tried to transition back to work.

"Just water for the both of us for right now; we're still waiting on two people to join us," Yu told her. She gave a pleasant bow and left to fetch drinks for the both of them from their water barrel. "Clearly Ragna went to see the parents at the church then… meaning in the pile…"

"If that's true do you think we should tell her?" Hyde asked, feeling bad for the news they might have to deliver.

"While she's in the middle of work? You saw how bad it was when just recognized the bounty posters…" Yu told him. "And we don't know for certain either… Let's confirm with Ragna first, maybe then find some way to get her mother to tell her."

"Right; she might know a way to make it easier for Liza," Hyde agreed. "Still… to think that anyone would do something that horrible."

"You hear it all the time on the news, being so close to it like that though…" Yu sighed.

The two sat in silence, but not for every long as the doors soon opened revealing Ragna and Ruby. Yu couldn't explain it, but the two almost looked liked they had recovered slightly… in fact Ruby's small smile didn't seem _that_ forced.

"You found us quickly," he noted to the two of them. "Can Ruby's _Survival_ skill track people down then?"

"No, that's another skill called _Tracking_ ," Ruby informed them both. "Either way we wouldn't have needed it; we just asked around if people had seen anyone with Hyde's hair and they pointed us in the right direction."

"...Guess my highlights aren't good a blending into a crowd of people," he admitted before looking seriously at Ragna. "I think the four of us need to talk."

"...That goes without saying," Ragna admitted with a sigh. "Have you guys bought rooms yet?"

"Not just yet," Yu told them as Liza came back with their waters.

"Are these the two that you told us about?" Liza asked and Yu nodded. "Welcome, I can get you set up with food, what's your fancy for this evening?"

"Actually we wanted to get set up with some rooms for the night first," Ragna told her. "How much for four rooms?"

"Unfortunately, we don't have that many rooms available," Liza told him. "We do have one larger room with two bunk beds for you, just five copper coins a night."

"Five copper..." Ruby repeated as she looked through her money pouch (which also carried the same effect as he backpack). "Hmm… how many nights would silver coins net us?"

' _She's okay with sleeping in the same room as three other guys?_ ' Hyde thought to himself. ' _...Maybe things are different back in her world… And then again we all DID wake up in the same room… Am I treating this as a bigger deal than it really is?'_

"Two nights per, exactly the same as if you paid ten copper," Liza informed them. Ruby nodded and handed over two pieces of silver. "Perfect, I'll get you a key for your room. Want me to bring up anything for dinner?"

"Certainly," Yu said before giving a friendly (and somewhat charming) smile as he flipped her one of the gold coins Ruby had given him. "Would you mind picking something out for each of us? I'll feel better trusting your expertise."

"I-If you're certain," Liza told him, not looking Yu straight in his eyes.

"Oif," Ruby groaned to herself, before noticing the slight blush on Liza's face. "...Really?"

"Really," Ragna bluntly told her with cast over eyes, a little used to this after his time spent with Kagura Narukami was rather pleased by this outcome… though Hyde was starting to think he might have a rival.

 _Upstairs_

The room the four would be situated in was a little on the smaller side, but it would suffice. The bunk beds seemed study and the beds were about as comfortable as the ones back in the temple. Ragna and Ruby would be sharing one bunk bed where Ruby would take top bunk while Hyde would take the top on the one he shared with Yu. A small desk was off to one corner along with a small lantern. The place looked comfortable enough… though its occupants were far from comfortable with their conversation topic.

"So it was the parents, just like we thought," Yu summarized as the four sat and waited for their food, both sides having just finished telling their own side of their story.

"Yeah, sad to say but that's the case," Ruby told the both of them. "At the very least we managed to give them some closure."

"And we'll have to do the same thing with Liza downstairs too," Hyde muttered, thinking of how badly it would hurt her. "Still… the idea of just killing someone…"

"As long as it's not an easy choice to make, you're still human," Ragna told them as he crossed his arms seriously.

"...I still can't say any of us will be able to make that choice anytime soon… but given the state of this world we might have to… like you told us earlier," Yu said. "Even sitting back while you fight seems wrong…" He thought to Liza's panic. "And worse yet…"

"There's more?" Hyde asked him, thinking that there was already plent to digest.

"...Ragna may actually have a point," Yu thought before sighing. "Now then, I think that's enough on the heavy subjects for today. Let's put together what we've learned about the town so far."

"About that…" Ragna began showing a visible version of his menu. He then headed into one of the options that had been marked with question block, but now contained full text; _Titles and Quests_.

"A section's been unlocked?" Hyde said before entering his menu. "Weird, I have that on mine now too, what gives?"

Must be like in an RPG, where they unveil different functions as you progress further and further," Yu guessed. "Let's see… Nothing comes up under _Quests_ and under _Titles_ all that comes up is a blank slate."

"Weird that it would unlock if nothing happened," Ruby guessed before turning to Ragna. "Do you know what triggered it?"

"Yeah, when I left the church after… well you get the idea," Ragna told them, not wanting to have to force dark material once more. "I got this weird title, it's called _Heavencliff's_ _Beginning Savior_." All of the three piled around him and looked at the title, leaving Ragna feeling uncomfortably crowded.

"I see… have you tried finding out what it is?" Yu suggested. A box of subtext appeared right over the title. "There we go, back in business… apparently you get this after clearing a quest. It also says that soon after earning this title, people in _Heavencliff_ will… 'treat you more kindly' when this is in effect. Not sure what that means."

"Me neither," Ragna told them somewhat annoyedly. "You three can give me some room, you know?"

"Sorry," Ruby apologized as the three backed away.

"So do you equip it?" Hyde had to ask. "In some games you have to equip the title you earn to get the boost."

"Let's see…" Ragna tried for a moment. "...Nope, nothing. Maybe it means I've always got it active."

"Meaning the ability could stack with others," Yu thought as he thought back. "There's a Request Board downstairs. Do you think that you could get an even better variation of this _Title_ just by completing more jobs and quests?"

"Maybe… but some of those are bounties, aren't they?" Ragna asked, remembering their conversation from earlier.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," Yu said with confidence. "We can start taking monster hunting quests where we can and try to help out anywhere else we see trouble arising. If we do some more work around this town, we'll be able to get used to the strange functions that this world offers us."

"That and we'll be able improve our levels, along with our skills," Hyde added.

"Meaning you two are going to be flirting up a storm," Ragna remembered with something of a sigh.

"Eh, it's our burden to bear I guess," Hyde said, though he wasn't exactly disappointed with the development.

"Oif," the Reaper grumbled before considering. "Now that I think about it, what kind of abilities did you get from your skills?"

"Abilities?" Yu asked. "Oh right, you managed to use _Reheat_ to cook the food and that other one to boost our own cooking abilities."

" _Reheat_ and _Chef_ yeah," Ragna said as he went to his skill selection. "Alright, so you're supposed to get a new abilities whenever you put a number of points into the skill. For cooking I got abilities at one, three, five, seven, and ten points… only thing is, my menu says I couldn't unlock the ten point skill cause the total Rank is too low… guess I'll have to make do until I make Rank 35."

"I also managed to get abilities a one, three, and five points," Hyde told him as he looked at his own skill.

"Same here," Ruby told the group. "Since we're all here and talking about it, we might as well go over the abilities that we've got, make sure we know how things stack up overall."

"Good thinking," Ragna agreed as he looked through his skill's details. "So the first point I put in got me the ability _Soul Food_. According to this, depending on how high my rank is and how well I prepare the food I can restore health, mana, and stamina and even cure certain status ailments."

"And all of that at just the first point!?" Hyde exclaimed. "Dude, that's got to be as useful a skill as you can get."

"It's not that simple though," Yu reminded. "In order to get it high enough to mean anything, he's going to need to raise the skill to a sufficient level and that's going to take time."

"Hmm…" Ruby hummed to herself as she thought it over. "We should probably get him to cook whenever we get the chance then, there's no telling when or how something like that can save our skin."

"Meaning instead of spending money food at the inn like tonight, we should really start buying up ingredients and cookware for Ragna to use," Hyde suggested.

"That'd be a good start at least," Ragna told him. "My third point ability is a lot less impressive, but it's still useful enough. _Substitute Ingredient_ is exactly like it sounds; I can change out a dish's ingredients for something similar and it won't affect the outcome of this dish nearly as much as it normally would… useful in a pinch I guess. After that I got _Reheat_ at 5 points and _Chef_ at 7 points."

"Still, it looks like you've got your major bases covered," Yu said before looking in his abilities. "I can't speak for Hyde, but my ability at one point is called _Charismatic_. Its specifics are left vague, but it's telling me that based on my success and my rank total I might be able to charm things like info, quests, or even supplies out of the people I talk to."

"Yeah, that's what I've got too," Hyde told them. "At level three we've got… _Versatile Charm_." At the blond's awkward change in complexion, Yu looked at what it said for his skill, yet he seemed much more passive about it. "Apparently… it let's me use the skill with people of the same sex at less of a penalty."

"...Oh is justice sweet," Ruby said with a bright beaming smile which hid a demon beneath it. Ragna couldn't help but chuckle at her somewhat sadistic nature as he knew her issue with the skill already.

"And is that a problem?" Yu asked seriously. "It could be useful."

' _He's going along with this? He must be more used to the idea than I thought,'_ Hyde considered. "And at level 5 we've got an ability called _Smooth Recovery,_ says here we can get attempts to recover a situation after making a person upset based on our rank totals… all things considered, we might need this one a lot."

"Hee, it'll be fun to watch at least," Ruby said with a bright smile.

"I thought you were against the idea," the Reaper reminded her.

"I'm slowly getting used to it, provided I'm there to watch when things go awkward," she told him. Ragna could only shrug, since he knew that particular part would be at least a little interesting to watch. "Okay, so it looks like I'm up. My first ability is called _Survival Harvest;_ based on my total rank I can get better find and higher quality whenever I have to harvest a monster or search for stuff in the wild… still not exactly looking forward to the former."

"Eh, it's not all going to be fun and games," Ragna reminded her. "What else ya got?"

"Let's see… I also have one called _Thrifty Tools_ which can help me craft survival tools based on what I we have on or around us at the time. They won't be as good as the real thing, but they can help. Lastly there's _Find Civilization_ which will just help us find our way back to a town or village when we get lost."

"And with Ragna's luck-" Hyde began.

"I get it, I get it, you can stop reminding me…" Ragna sighed before thinking it over. "Also, is it just me or is everyone noticing a pattern?"

"I can see it too," Yu agreed. "First level is a basic ability that will become stronger the more ranks you put into the skill, the third level one makes you more versatile in your field, and fifth level seems to be a kind of retry or recovery skill,"

"Then by that logic, you'd be able to improve your teammates skills at seventh level, like Ragna and his _Chef_ ability," Ruby noted. "I guess for me that would mean we'd all get slightly better at surviving."

"Wonder what ours would be like," Yu thought to himself as he considered the ability. "What would you even call it?"

"Wingman maybe?" Hyde suggested with a laugh. Ragna rolled his eyes and that was when there was a knock at the door.

"Excuse me?" came Liza's voice on the other side. "I'm here with your food. Do you mind letting me in?" Getting up, Ragna opened the door to let the young girl inside as everyone set their screens to 'invisible'. Liza came inside bearing a tray of stews, bread, soups, and other dishes for the group along with a few beer tankards; apparently Yu's single gold coin was good for a lot of the food. "Sorry that this took so long; a dinner crowd arrived just as soon as you came in and… well we're a bit understaffed in the kitchen at the moment."

"It's not a problem," Ragna told her casually, before he considered his options. "But… do you need any help?"

"Help? You mean like cooking?" Liza asked.

"Might not look it, but I'm actually a pretty damn good cook," the Grim Reaper offered. "Besides, someone's had to feed these three."

"Th-that would honestly be fantastic," Liza told him. "I… I have to warn you though, my mom and dad are pretty strict to the type and quality of food we can serve so…"

"Not a problem I don't scare easily," Ragna told her before grabbing a bowl of stew. "Head down and let 'em know, I'll be there in just a few." Nodding happily, the serving girl closed the door behind her and headed downstairs while Ragna began shoveling stew into his mouth. It wasn't bad, but he felt like he could do a touch better even as limited as he currently was.

" _Someone's got to feed these three_ you tell her," Ruby said to him with a snarky smile as she began working on some soup. "You only cooked for us the one time, and even then you had us there to help you."

"He was probably just saying that to explain that he had experience cooking," Hyde told her. "Besides, it's a good move; he'll get to use his cooking skill and likely net us a couple of coins in the process. Two birds with one stone."

"...That ain't the only reason I'm doing it," Ragna admitted as he finished his stew (he can eat pretty fast when he needs to) and moving on to a loaf of bread which he quickly tore into.

"Really? What else is there?" Yu asked as he began working on his soup.

"...If I do this, then maybe it'll be easier on her when I break the news about the kid to her," he admitted somewhat darkly before swallowing his bite of bread..

"You… you don't have to go that far," Hyde told him. "We could just let her mother know and leave it for her to explain."

"Yeah, yeah, but pushing stuff like that onto other people just leaves me feeling like an ass, well a bigger one anyways," Ragna told them as he scarfed the rest of his food down. He then got up, but not before taking the four beer tankards. "I'm bringing these back down, so don't even think about it."

"What? But we're probably old enough to drink in this world!" Yu exclaimed at him. "Weren't you the one that said different world, different rules?"

"Maybe," Ragna told them before smirking. "But hell; if I'm the adult here then I've got to set some ground rules. Didn't Hyde say I was the _leader_ this morning anyways?"

"Damn he's right…" Hyde groaned to himself as he thought back to what he'd said during their first encounter with the spiders. Ragna didn't give another chance for a rebuttal as he headed downstairs, taking the beer with him.

"So killing's a necessity, but underage drinking is taking it too far?" Yu asked with sigh. "Now that I think about it, back home everyone would try to keep as far away from alcohol as possible for… some reason."

"Might be a reason for it if they were so against it," Hyde reasoned, noting never to let Yu get drunk.

"Ragna's just doing what's necessary," Ruby told Yu. "I don't think it's any easier for him than it is for us…"

"...Might just mean it's up to us to make things easier for him," Hyde figured. "After all, he's at least proven that his heart's in the right place."

"I never said it wasn't," Yu agreed before looking at the food. "Bt you've got a point; he's going to be a part of this team and we'll need someone like him in the thick of things… better get used to it."

"Right, maybe one of us can get him to open up a little too," Ruby offered. "It… it wasn't much, but I at least managed to get him talking after we left the church. Even told me a few details of his past."

"That right?" Hyde noted as he thought over his earlier conversation with Liza. "Did your _Sex Appeal_ skill go up when you did that?" Ruby's prompt and appropriate response was to fling her bowl of soup right into the blond's face. "...I was just asking," he said in deep regret through the hot liquid dripping off his face and onto his clothing.

"...Something tells me there isn't a _Smooth Recovery_ that could save you here," Yu Narukami noted with a bit of whimsy as the young _Huntress_ crossed her arms in annoyance (not unlike Ragna).

"...Shut up..." Hyde groaned.

 _ **Author's Note with review responses and an Omake at the end (PLEASE PM ME IF YOU HAVE A STORY IDEA OR SUGGESTION, don't put them in the reviews)**_

 _ **At the time of posting, I'm already on the BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle pre-order beta and I've given it a spin (as anyone who follows my small and humble Youtube channel would know). The game's pretty good so far, but I've yet to get into the nitty-gritty of things… Though I'm not sure whether to by happy that I no longer have to 'Z' (or 623) my controller when I need to Inferno Divider or disappointed that it seems a little TOO simple… meh. Let's see how the online element goes then. EDIT: Okay, just tried online and this ROCKS! Honestly, I'm having dozens of time more fun than when I started playing FighterZ and I'm a huge Dragon Ball fan.**_

 _ **Just as a side note: look for P4 The Animation: King's Game on Youtube if you haven't already seen it. You'll get a good laugh and explain why no one lets Yu drink alcohol.**_

 _ **To address a few of the reviews that I go, thanks for the show of support but you really don't need to worry about Camperor, Keyz… whatever the hell he's going by. I got him blocked (though I thought I already had him blocked) and that should just be the end of it. He's just wasting his own time if he's going to post hateful comments on my story and he should simply be ignored by us all as is appropriate. Trust me; starve the troll via ignoring it, don't feed it with your rage.**_

 _ **Back to the story actual story (took a bit to get here), slightly darker chapter this time around but I had to clear the air on character morality somewhere. I was hoping to keep everyone's personalities as close to cannon as I could and added some more light hearted moment and some system exploration in an attempt to even out the tone.**_

 _ **Anyways, review response time. Though… as a small request; If you have ideas for the story, PM me instead of posting them as a review. It'll help not to spoil any upcoming ideas I have for the readers.**_

ENDDRAGON369: Maybe I'll do something with them down the line, haven't decided yet.

EpicLinkSam: Funny that you mention that, I actually came up with this idea for Ragna's fighting style and his reason that he couldn't use weapons in this particular story a long time ago, before I'd ever played _Tales of Berseria_ even (though now Eizen is my obvious main in that game). Also, I included a bit Ragna/Ruby time here since you seemed to like it.

Azure Legacy: Yu's Persona abilities and the normal multitude of Personas he has under his control will work a bit differently this time since he doesn't have Igor's help through the Velvet Room. He'll get access to other powerful Persona's, but that's for later.

ArmantusCumPinnae and Mystech Master: Interesting questions and ideas. PM me if you have anything else to add, but thanks for the reviews all the same.

The Unplanner: And I hope we won't have to know anytime soon… I don't think I'm comfortable with the idea of writing a lemon fic just yet.

Wlyman2009: He had to have used a training sword from the time he spent with Jubei (possibly an old branch that was left lying around), but other than that he's exclusively used _Bloodscythe_.

ptl: I didn't have an exact inspiration, but I am rather fond of writing for the genera. As far as the hammy characters go… it depends on the scene at the weight of the situation and this chapter is a good showcase for the varying tones.

adv: Thank you.

bootlegwat: I've actually read the first few chapters of Konosuba, not a big fan but thanks for the review.

DreadAngelus: Maybe, but I'm sort of mixing in both the calm and passive Yu from the games and the more comedic Yu from the anime for this fic.

 _ **That's all for those. Here's the closing Omake I promised. Ciao!**_

 _BlazBlue: Cross Tag… Apartment?: Part 1_

"...Tch, every damn time," Ragna groaned as he looked at his alarm clock which read 5:50. "I always have to wake up ten minutes before I actually have to get going." He stared up at the dark ceiling. "I guess I could get up now and beat it to the punch… but my bed's just too damn warm, and comfy, and…" He shut his eyes for all of a moment and-

 _ **BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!**_

"Friggin' relative time…" he growled as he got up an slammed his fist down on the infernal device to finally shut it off. Giving a small yawn, he got a few cricks out of his neck before rising, picking his clothes out for the day, and taking a quick shower. Soon enough he was in the apartment's small kitchen preparing sunny side up eggs, thick slabs of breakfast ham, toast, and fresh squeezed orange juice. It was a bit of a process, but Ragna knew it was his job… both in his apartment and at his actual place of employment.

"Good morning," Yu Narukami greeted as he walked into the kitchen, his hair slightly damp after he had finished his own shower.

"Morning," Ragna greeted in turn as he poured Yu some of the orange juice and handed it to the student. "Food will be ready in just a moment."

"Cool," he said as he took a long sip. "No coffee today?"

"We ran out last night; have to pick some up after I get off work and mail our taxes," he muttered. Tax season was always a pain for Ragna, but at least he had three students he could put down as dependants to lighten the load of money he had to pay out.

"Mind checking to see if they've got of those premium ramen bowls available?" the student asked as he took a seat.

"If I find some I'll try and grab a few, but those things go so damn fast whenever they're in stock," Ragna muttered with a sigh before he turned to the hallway. "Unlike two people I'm thinking of right now."

"I… doubt that they're even up yet," Yu noted.

"Damn it, I am _not_ having another fight for who gets to shower first," he growled to himself before turning. "...Which of them do you think could get ready the fastest?"

"It depends, how are you motivating them?" the answered with another question.

"...I think I've got a solution then," Ragna said with a cocky smirk. Yu crossed his fingers, knowing that either Ragna had a genius idea or that this would instantly blow up in his face. Turning the stove to low heat so the food didn't burn while he was gone, the eldest member of the house headed to the only female members bedroom and pounded on the door. "Rise and shine sleepy head!" No response. "Get up!" Nothing. "If you're not showered and at the table in five minutes, I'm taking a cookie from your stash and eating it in front of your fa-"

Ragna hadn't even finished his sentence when the door flew open and a blur of pink pajamas with little dogs on them rushed into the bathroom. The door slammed shut behind her, quickly followed by the sound of running water that certainly wouldn't have had time to adjust. Smirking at himself at the win, Ragna headed back to the table and the shocked Yu that was sitting there.

"It was always that easy?" he asked aloud in surprise.

"Have to remember that for next time," his caretaker said cockily as he checked on the food before heading outside and to grab the morning paper. It wasn't there yet, so Ragna figured they were running a little late today; nothing too out of the ordinary. Not long later, a rather upset and damp Ruby emerged from the bathroom, soon followed by groggy Hyde as he'd just awoken in his pajamas.

"You didn't have to threaten me with cookies," Ruby said grumpily as she sat down with here arms crossed.

"You and I both know that ain't the case," Ragna told her as he put her breakfast in front of her.

"Seriously, what'd I miss?" Hyde asked with a yawn as he took a seat before his own breakfast plate.

"You'd know if you woke up with the rest of us," Yu said as he began cutting into his ham. "...Of course I'd personally recommend sleep."

"Don't encourage him," Ragna scolded before putting his dirty dishes in the sink and sipping his OJ. "I've got to get going early today, so clean up after yourselves and I'll see you after work." Heading over to the door, he threw his coat on. "Remember I have to bring my boss over for dinner later this week, so for the love of god make sure your rooms are clean."

"Yes DAAAAD!" all three of them responded with teasing mockery.

"DON'T CALL ME THAT DAMN IT!" Ragna shouted as he left through the door, muttering something about the three that he had to keep under his roof.

"So… no one bothered to tell him that it's Sunday and he has the day off?" Hyde asked the other two seated at the table.

"AAAAAAAAAUUUGGGGHH!"

"...Pretty sure he just found out," Ruby noted humorlessly. The door was then loudly thrown open as Ragna roughly marched into the kitchen, clear annoyance showing on his face.

"All right then…" he began threateningly to the three seated before him. "Which of you scamps set my alarm clock on a Sunday!?"

"Why on earth do you think one of us would even do that?" Hyde asked him casually. "I mean that's a low blow; something cruel and devoid of humor and RUBY DID IT!"

"Don't blame this on me! I only got up because Ragna threatened to eat my cookies!" she shouted at Hyde. "If anything you got up earlier you do on school days and you never get up before one in the afternoon on Sundays!"

"Well with all of the noise everyone was making I didn't have a choice!" Hyde shouted.

"...You kids…" Ragna growled before he put his coat back onto its hanger and started walking back to his room. "I'm going back to bed… don't you dare wake me up."

"...He's mad," Hyde noted once their caretaker was out of earshot. He then noticed that Yu had gotten up and was buttoning up his own jacket. "Where the heck are you going?"

"The movies; I promised I'd catch an early feature special with Yosuke and Kanji today," he explained before throwing his bag over his shoulder.

"Wait… you were the only one of us to get up close to Ragna's time," Ruby noted as the gears in her mind began to turn. "So why didn't you tell him what day it was and stop him?"

"Because this way I would get breakfast before I left," Yu told them before he opened the door. "Later." Hyde and Ruby didn't have any room to object as Yu closed the door and headed off to the movie theaters, leaving the two to realize that they'd all been played that morning.


	8. First Jobs

_**Rebellion**_ _ **the Sixth**_ _ **:**_ _ **First Jobs**_

"Since today's our first real day in town, I think it's best that we come up with a plan for how we're going to spend our time," Yu suggested to the group as everyone sat around the small room they'd purchased the day prior. They hadn't gotten up that long ago and after getting a warm meal inside of each of them the topic moved for their plans to help _restore the peace_ or whatever it was that Marie had called them here to do.

"Yeah, and who put you in charge of that?" Ragna asked. He didn't particularly care nor did he have a problem with it, he just found it sort of odd that Yu would decide to take leadership over this particular part.

"Well I'm a High School student," the silver hair informed. "I have experience in figuring out how to best manage activities, and considering what Marie told us earlier it sounded like the kingdom is already in a poor state, meaning that time is of the essence."

"Hey, I was in High School too; I know a thing or two about managing time," Hyde informed.

"Same here," Ruby told them all. "...Well, technically it was an academy, but same principle."

"...Kay then, moving on," the Grim Reaper said, regretting that he'd brought it up and just ended up wasting time.

"Actually, there um… there was one thing I was wondering…" Hyde asked, trying to keep his tone unawkward, but concern leaked through nonetheless. "How… how did Liza take the news?"

"...She's not stupid, she knew what was going to happen to the kid," Ragna told them seriously. "All things considered, she probably made peace with the fact a long time ago… must've made it easier for when I finally broke the news to her… All the same, I'd give her some space."

"I know… it's just that… at breakfast she was acting like nothing was different, even though I assumed that you'd told her last night like you said to us," Hyde explained. "...She's pretty strong then."

"In that case it's up to us to make sure nothing else like that ever happens again," Yu informed before showing the group four pieces of paper. "I pulled a few jobs from the notice board, along with that bounty for the bandits from yesterday. We can take a look and decide what work's the most important to take now."

"Right," Ragna said before looking over the paper and… "You know, this isn't written in a language I'm familiar with, but at least I can tell what it says."

"I was thinking the same thing," Hyde noted as he looked over the piece of paper he held with suggest some rather vicious looking creatures. "Huh, this one calls for some _Goblin_ extermination. Apparently these things have killed a couple of travelers on the road and even stole a few of the farmer's cows from outside the village. The paper says that they should be in the forest to the east of town… last they checked"

"Meaning if we were going to look for them, we'd have to track 'em down first," Ragna summarized. "Then there's all the spiders that have been showing up lately; for all we know those things could have already done the job for us."

"Doesn't everyone still have a skill point after we leveled up after the traveling?" Yu asked. "...Now that I think of it, aside from Ragna all of us should have three points after all of the fighting we did on the road that put us all at level six."

"Meaning I can put a point into _Tracking_ ," Ruby realized and Yu nodded.

"Hold your horses kid, we haven't decided anything yet," Ragna told her as he looked over the papers. "That's just the first job we've looked over, there's plenty more which we could finish quicker or that need to be finished sooner rather than later."

"True, but the one right here is a handy one," Ruby told him. "According to this, any spiders that we bring in and… on second thought what do you have Yu? Something fun and-" Ragna promptly snatched the paper out of her hands. "Hey!"

"...Hmph, apparently they had a bounty out on the spider's fangs, considering they don't expect us to carry the whole damn thing back," Ragna muttered. "Still we'd have to harvest them and…" He glanced at Ruby who was trying her whole innocent eyed technique once again. "...You know that ain't going to work kid."

"It will someday!" Ruby insisted leaving Ragna to groan, Yu to scratch the back of his head, and Hyde to chuckle nervously. "What about you? What's the job on yours ask for?"

"It's not a job; this one's a warning notice," Yu informed. "It says that there's a massive snake that's been seen out in the wilds. No bounty's been posted for slaying it, but they warn that the thing is dangerous; it's already been seen swallowing a rider and his horse whole and even the spiders seem to know enough to keep away from it."

"We'll have to do our best to avoid it then," Ruby told the other three. "At our low levels, I don't think we're ready to take on that thing."

"Other than that I think we're set for the day, we just need to finish before it gets too dark out and we'll be in good shape."

"Then let's quit wasting time and get moving," Ragna told them both as he rose to his feet. Together the four headed downstairs so they could leave the Inn, but Liza caught them as they were heading out.

"Not staying to help with the lunch rush?" Liza asked, seeming rather disappointed. Everyone noticed that she was acting cheerful, but they could tell it was a forced effort.

"Sorry, but I'm a fighter first and a cook second," the Reaper told her with a shrug. "Looks like you'll have to manage without me for now."

"Eh, we'll be fine , but you really surprised my folks with your cooking Even though they hate the name, the customers couldn't get enough of that 'rat' stew."

"R-Rat stew!?" Hyde exclaimed. "You were cooking rats!?"

"It's not rat stew dammit, it's _Ratatouille_ and it doesn't even have any meat in it," Ragna groaned as he pinched the bridge of his nose,before turning his back to Liza. "We'll be back this evening, I can help you with the dinner rush then."

"Don't feel like you need to, but we'd love the help," Liza told him with a bright smile. Ragna didn't say anything in response, only nodding as he headed out the door with his group following close behind.

"...Come to think of it, I might have to make rat if we run out of food," Ragna informed the three teens, whose faces blanched at his words as they walked through town. "Parts of those spiders we caught might be a good start even."

"You-! You want us to _eat_ the spiders that we've killed!?" a clearly mortified Ruby demanded.

"What? They're edible aren't they? Beggars can't be choosers," Ragna told her before chuckling with confidence. "Sides, give me enough practice and I'll show you that it won't even matter what I use; you'll get a great meal all the same."

"Yeah… but... spiders…" Hyde tried to say to convince him otherwise.

"As long as the meal won't poison me, I'll give it a try," Yu submitted… with a bit of a darker tone (not Ragna levels, but dark). _'As long as he doesn't make a new iteration of Mystery Food X, I won't complain.'_

"I'm still against the idea," the blonde member of their team tried to protest, but Ragna's serious scowl deterred the effort. "...Just don't make a point to let us know when Spider's on the menu."

' _Which means that I'm going to need to take the time and effort to cover the taste and texture of any of those ingredients. That 'Substitute Ingredient' skill is going to work wonders for me here and…'_ Ragna paused in his thoughts as he came upon a startling realization. _'Am… Am I thinking like a parent?'_ Shaking the thought out of his head, he gave a short groan as the group headed for the woods. _'Tch, what a pain…'_

 _Later -Forest Edge-_

"Doesn't look that dangerous of a place, but if I've learned anything it's not to judge anything as harmless at first glance," Hyde said as he looked over the forest. "Got the _Tracker_ skill ready, Ruby?"

"I've put the point in and I've got the first ability," she told him. " _Trail Seeker_ says I can I can have an easier time of finding out where a query is headed by checking signs in the wilds, but there's nothing telling me how to activate it."

"You may just have to look until you find something that can lead us to the goblins," Yu told her as he kept his guard up. "You're only at first rank, so I doubt this will be easy."

"Hmm…" the _Huntress-In-Training_ hummed to herself as she looked over the bushes leading into the woods. Taking her time, Ruby saw that she was starting to notice some details that she'd normally have missed; a line of unnaturally bent branches or a collection of slight indents on the ground that resembles footsteps. "Hey guys! I think I might be onto something over-!"

Her cry of excitement was deafened as a collection of erratic snaps sounded from within the forest, heading straight towards the group. Forcing himself to the front, Ragna stood in front of Ruby as the frontline of defense. The rest of the group then prepared for battle as quickly as they could; Yu throwing his sheath to the side and summoning _Izanagi_ , Hyde pulling out the blood red _Insulator,_ and Ruby setting her _Crescent Rose_ to scythe form. The breaking of branches got louder yet, escalating until a massive jade bulk emerged from the forest.

 _ **(Cue BlazBlue**_ _Gluttony Fang_ _ **)**_

The serpent was was taller than Ragna as it slid through the ground and even raising just its front part was enough for it to tower over the group and cast them in its shadow. Its tongue was long enough to lasso the group with ease and as it opened its mouth it showed a mouth full of 16 viciously sharp teeth that were dripping with yellow venom. Its yellow eyes glared at them, almost with a form of vile intellect.

"It's the first thing we run into!?" Ruby whispered as the monster glared down at the four .

"Just make sure it ain't the last," Ragna grumbled, knowing that the three of them were clearly putting the blame this at his feet.

"This seems like something we should fight later… preferably _after_ we've arranged those stat points," Hyde tried to suggest, only for the serpent to lunge forward with surprising speed. "Okay then; surprise boss fight it is."

Luckily, everyone was fast enough to avoid the monster's initial lunge at them, but when Hyde tried to fire off a _Black Orbiter_ , the attack barely left an impact mark on the creature's scales. Seeing this and becoming frustrated, Hyde then went of a more direct slash with sword at least managed to break through the scales due to the weapon's ability.

" _CLEAVE!"_ Yu Narukami called out, ordering his persona to attack the monster with its sword/spear in a powerful cut. The impact did little more than scratch the creature's, but it was enough to make the beast aggravated. Turning its massive body, the snake extended its jars to snap Yu in half, only to be barely held back by Izanagi's weapon. The Persona User grimaced as his other self struggled to keep the snake back; even coating the weapon in lightning at its contact did little but anger it.

"Coming in fast!" came a battle call from Ruby as she fired several rounds off from her scythe. Despite striking the creature directly in its face, it didn't do much save for annoy it further… and distract it.

The snake didn't realize Ragna's shadow was covering it until it was too late. Bringing his fist down had upon its head, a wicked _Crack_ was heard as he blasted the creature wis enough force that it lost one if its venomous fangs. The monster's head reeled back as it was forced to let go of Izanagi. The Persona quickly floated back behind its apparently winded user, having lost energy in focusing upon the clash. The snake then looked at the four in sheer rage as Ragna spun his body and-

 _Whack!_

Delivered a roundhouse kick to the blunt end of the fang he'd knocked out as it came into range. He sent the makeshift projectile flying off into the tree line where it ricocheted off of one of the trees, bounced off a rock, and impaled itself squarely into the snake's left eye. It gave a shrill scream as it flailed its body a round in its pain.

"Good move," Yu commended as he held his sword ready. "Lucky that fang didn't hit any of us."

"Luck couldn't have been a part of that, remember?" the Reaper questioned seriously as the monster continued to flail. "Dammit, even my attacks are barely getting through."

"I can't do a lot of damage like this, but my sword can still get you an opening," Hyde promised as he aimed the _Insulator_ it at the writhing snake. "Just under his head, got a problem with that?"

"Just give us our shot and we'll take it," Ruby said, giving a serious and solid nod to Ragna who was glad she was taking this seriously.

"Alright, just don't get yourself killed out there," Ragna said as he noticed that the snake was struggling to control itself now it had shaken its fang free from its bloody eye. "Yu, give him whatever cover you can with _Izanagi_ ; whatever happens don't let that thing score a direct hit on either of you."

"Understood!" Yu said as the team readied their charge. "Now…"

" _ **LET'S GO!"**_ the four shouted as one as they sprang forward.

Like they had planned, Yu and Hyde took the first strike at the wounded beast. Even if it wasn't Yu's job to damage the monster, the _Zio_ bolt he had _Izanagi_ send straight into its damaged eye was more than enough to cause it considerable pain. While its attention was focused on the Persona, Hyde leaped at the creature and unleashed three _Vacant Shift_ slashes, each of the creating another opening. The snake reeled its head back to snap at the blonde, but was once more interrupted by several gunshots.

"Over here!" Ruby said as a distraction, using her weapon's gun capability to not only shoot at the beast, but to also make her as evasive as possible. The giant snake missed as it snapped its massive jaws where she'd been just a moment ago… then came in Ragna.

" _ **Hell's Fang!"**_ the Grim Reaper shouted as he sailed forward, his darkness covered fist slamming into the weak point that Hyde had created earlier. The monster screamed as it was forced back, blood slowly seeping out of the wound. He was about to go for a follow up strike, but that was when the creature was surrounded by a brown casting circle. _**"EVERYONE GET BACK!"**_

Ruby and Hyde were barely able to leap out of the was as razor sharp spikes of rock burst from the ground. Yu still had _Izanagi_ out and tried to cut them away, but it wasn't enough and his Persona was destroyed. Yu grunted as his mind flared with a sharp and overwhelming pain, only to notice the rock spikes that were about to impale him… right before a shadow covered him.

 _ **Shunk!**_

"...Tch…I ain't going through that a second time," Ragna promised cockily, though it was clear to Yu that he'd been stabbed several times over with several of the spikes hitting vital organs.

"R-Ragna-san?" the teen asked with worry, the Reaper's only response was to smash off the spikes with his bear hands blood seeping out of his own wounds. The other two members then approached the two to regroup a look of terror on both of their faces at the severity of Ragna's wounds.

"I'll be fine; focus on putting that damn thing down," he ordered, watching as the snake readied its second spell, this one glowing a baleful crimson.

Though the mental stress made him wince harshly, Yu managed to bring his Persona out through the sheer force of his own willpower. Nodding to Hyde the two rushed forward with Ragna and Ruby following closely behind. The snake then expelled a massive fireball from it mouth leaving the group to narrowly dodge it. The spell exploded behind them with enough force to them off of their feet, but the four stood strong.

Carefully controlling his Persona, Yu guided _Izanagi_ though the air and stabbed its weapon into the snakes wounded eye. While it screamed and focused its attention on the Persona, Hyde rushed forward and delivered another slash close to the weak point he'd created. This attack made the snake recoil and slammed its body into the blonde, but he managed to land on his feet close to Yu. As they recovered, Ragna and Ruby passed them by.

Using her _Speed Semblance_ to get a quick attack in at the beast, Ruby leapt into the air where she was right in front of the monster's goodeye. She wasn't sure how to activate her _Silver Eyes_ ability just yet, so she settled for swinging her scythe at its remaining eye. Unfortunately, that was when the monster had decided to close its eye and shield it with a scaly eyelid. With her knocked off balance in midair, the boss would have had its opening if not for Ragna's _Dead Spike_ that slammed into the creature as sent it sprawling back.

" _ **SWING ME!"**_ Ruby shouted at him as she kept her scythe extended. Acting on instinct, Ragna grabbed the airborne young huntress by her feet as readied himself with a wicked attack, but then he noticed the snake was channeling another earth spell.

" _ **BLACK ORBITER!**_

" _ **ZIO!"**_

Yu and Hyde's projectiles flew at the giant snake at high speed, both attacks aiming for a similar part on the creature so they began to intersect… and then seemed to fuse in their flight. The combined move carried a mass of swirling energy much like Hyde's attack, but cackled with violent sparks of electricity similar to Yu's. The attack hit the creature dead on and managed to deal intense damage while interrupting the spell to give Ragna and Ruby enough time to finish their own attack.

Using the short advantage he'd been given, the Grim Reaper roared as he swung Ruby and he extended scythe in a deadly arc, feeling each pulse as Ruby fired off shot after shot to increase their speed. The sickle screamed through air as it cut through the serpent without resistance, sending its head flying in the air.

 _(End Theme)_

"That… was something I wouldn't want to repeat for at least a week," Hyde sighed as he stabbed his sword into the ground to stay standing while Ragna let Ruby's feet return to their natural place on the earth. "Are we still hunting goblins today?"

"Not without dealing with this thing first we're not," Ragna muttered as he glanced at Ruby before gesturing with his head towards to larger half of the snakes body. "Get started, we're not finished here." Ruby didn't move, in fact it looked like she couldn't stop staring at the Reaper. It took Ragna a moment, but he then realized that he was still covered in blood as his heading factor was still working on his wounds. "...Look I'm fine… It's just taking longer to heal than I'm used to."

"...Okay," Ruby said, though it was clear that there was something about this she didn't like.

"I'll go help her," Hyde volunteered as he hefted the _Insulator_ over his shoulder and followed Ruby to the snake. "Mine's the only weapon that can cut the damn thing." While those two were busy looking at the larger part of the Serpent's body, Ragna headed over to the head that he'd just helped to cleave off, followed closely behind by Yu.

"Now what the hell are we supposed to do with this thing?" Ragna groaned as he scratched the back of his head.

"...I might have an idea," Yu decided, explaining to Ragna what he intended to do.

"That… that seems pretty morbid," Ragna told him as he looked at the monster. "Like… _really_ morbid, especially coming with you."

"That may be true, but weren't you the one that told us _Different World; Different Rules?"_ Ragna hated to admit it, but Yu had him there. "Besides, this will send the message that we need it to… even if it is a little early."

"Right, right," Ragna groaned before opening up his menu. "Eh? Looks like I hit level twelve. I mean I never leveled up on the roads, but two levels?"

"You're serious?" Yu asked as he went into his own menu. "And it appears I've gained four levels and made it to level ten. Apparently this monster was worth a lot of experience."

"Meaning we've got a lot of stat points to use up," Hyde said to the group as he and Ruby joined after they'd finished carving up the snake. "...We… we should probably invest a few of those, yeah?"

"No kidding, if it wasn't for our special abilities, our weapons, and Ragna's abnormal stats then we'd have died as soon as that thing came out," Ruby said with a sigh before looking at Ragna. "Speaking of which, how are the wounds healing?"

"Slowly, but that must be because I've got a low _Spirit_ stat and got hit by magic," Ragna told them with a groan. "Oh well, I guess I might as well balance myself as best as I can with the points I can use… aside from my god awful luck of course."

 _Strength:_ 50

 _Dexterity:_ 50

 _Constitution_ : 44

 _Magic:_ 44

 _Spirit:_ 44

 _Luck:_ -100

"A balance build sounds appropriate for me and my persona as well," Yu agreed as he invested his sixty points. "There we go…"

 _Strength:_ 20

 _Dexterity:_ 20

 _Constitution_ : 20

 _Magic:_ 20

 _Spirit:_ 20

 _Luck:_ 20

"I'll… probably try to tinker around a bit," Hyde said as he looked around his stats and started playing around. "Hmm… This should work. This way I'll keep my slight boost to the offensive, which suits my style just fine."

 _Strength:_ 24

 _Dexterity:_ 23

 _Constitution_ : 17

 _Magic:_ 25

 _Spirit:_ 15

 _Luck:_ 16

"Guess that just leaves me…" Ruby noted as she looked over her option before smirking. Everyone watched, curious at what she'd do… using the classic anime _sweatdrop_ effect in disbelief as she poured 40 of her points into dexterity.

 _Strength:_ 15

 _Dexterity:_ 56

 _Constitution_ : 13

 _Magic:_ 10

 _Spirit:_ 12

 _Luck:_ 14

"Dammit, you're putting your Dex even higher than Ragna's," Hyde muttered with surprise as Ruby gave him a goofy smile.

"Yeah, combine that with her _Speed Semblance_ and she'd be next to impossible to catch," Ragna muttered with his arms crossed as he started to understand her reasoning. "Still, say you do get hit; any attack on you is going to mean trouble."

"Guess that just means I'll have to count on you to keep me out of trouble," Ruby told him. "At the same time, I'll be there to make sure you're not doing anything to reckless and letting yourself get stabbed."

"So that's your game… You're a schemer, aintcha kid?"

"I am not a crook!" Ruby said with twin peaces signs, leaving Hyde and Yu confused why she was quoting American President Nixon and Ragna just regular confused.

"That does bring up a good point though," Yu admitted. "When we're not directly fighting in a group of four or doing our own fighting I think smaller groups of two would work for the best, like those tag team attacks that we pulled off in the fight."

"Yeah, what would you even call that?" Hyde asked as he went into his menu. _._ "Whoa! There's a new subsection called _Team Techniques!_ I've got one called _Hallowed Void!_ "

"The same is true with mine, meaning we managed to create that technique on our own without the need of leveling up… I think," Yu said, scratching his head as he realized that he didn't have that firm of a grasp of the functions of this world. "What about the two of you? You used the final move that finished the monster."

"Ours is called _Crimson Executioner_ ," Ruby noted with a smirk. "Looks like we've already got our teams decided then!"

"I'd tell you not to slow me down… but considering who I'm talking to, I might have to yell for you to take it easy," Ragna decided with a chuckle. "Alright, anything we're missing?"

"Just one thing," Ruby told him as she took a small glowing orb out of her pocket. "This was inside that giant snake, right next to its heart. I don't have any idea what it is though… maybe we could find someone in town that knows about it?"

"Save that for the later list; we've got goblins to hunt," Ragna muttered, before noticing that everyone had an… odd smile on their faces. "...Alright, what the hell's going on?"

"Nothing, just that you're taking this whole leader thing pretty seriously, aren't you?" Ruby asked with a giggle as Ragna's face slowly started to heat up.

"...Not like I'm doing it intentionally," he muttered as he turned away so that the rest of his group couldn't see how red his face was getting. "Think you can pick up a new set of tracks? Whatever was around here was blown away pretty thoroughly."

"Leave it to me!" Ruby said with a happy smile.

 _That Night -Governor's Manor-_

"You're serious?" a man in well made cotton clothing asked as he sat behind his desk, a small mug of tea grasped in both of his hands. He had well kept blonde hair that was slightly on the shorter side and a thin beard that only covered the immediate area around his mouth. His baby blue eyes were looking at the woman before him in slight suspicion while he took a small sip from the mug.

"Indeed, I settled their accounts personally my lord Governor," she said. The woman had simple brown hair that was cut short to keep in our of her eyes and wore a less frilly version of a maid's uniform. She was currently looking at the board she held before her as she read aloud the information she had collected. "Along with the massive snake head, they've also brought in proof of completing the bounty on both a group of bandits and the one on the Goblins… though they admitted that the spiders had already dealt with the later at the time of discover."

"Hmph, how honest of them," the man muttered to himself.

"I did, however, pay them _half_ of the bounty for their discovery of the Goblins' fate," she continued as she looked through papers. "Along with that, the four of them also brought in no less than thirty sets of spider fangs; all of which were confirmed to be real."

"That many… honestly, where are those damnable creatures coming from?" the man swore to himself. "What did you pay them for the snake we've warned about? I take it they thought they deserved some coin for that one in particular… even I'd say they'd have earned it."

"No actually," the woman told him. The Governor had been about to take another sip, but he stopped in surprise, quickly setting the mug on his desk so he didn't spill it. "I had even made the offer to the group, but they had insisted that it wasn't necessary. They still have severed the head on them… but I was unable to discover what they planned to do with it."

"Unusual… highly unusual," the Governor thought to himself as he mulled it over. "Any other time I'd be happy to have them with our lack of a town guard or any other force, but this feels like too big a stroke of luck, especially in these times. Almost like a bless-" He paused, a collection of thoughts forming in his mind. "Did they ever say where they journeyed from?"

"I am afraid I don't have an answer presently, but I am sure I can ascertain that information," his servant promised him. "Shall I?"

"If you wish, but mind their privacy; I don't want them to feel unwelcome or accused," the Governor said, a small smile starting to form on his lips.

"My lord, is something wrong? You seem… different." The servant couldn't remember the last time the governor had reason to smile so naturally, not since his son had been sent off to serve in the capital's guard.

"...I do feel different," the governor said as he stood from his desk, pushing out his seat as he walked over to his office's window and looking out into the bright moonlit sky with his hands behind his back. "Like the winds of change are approaching."

"I… I am afraid I don't follow, but I hope that this change continues to please you," the servant said before bowing. "By your leave then." At her master's nod, she exited his office and prepared to find the four before the night had ended. After she had left, the governor chuckled to himself.

"To think that the prophecy in those dusty tomes would actually bear any fruit, or that anyone would be crazed enough to attempt the challenge a risk summoning demons," he said with a chuckle. "You play a dangerous game Princess… a _very_ dangerous game."

 _ **Author's Note**_

 _ **Phew! This one took longer than I thought it would. I didn't update last week since I was in North Carolina last week… for anyone who don't know why that matters, I live on the other side of the US in Seattle.**_

 _ **A decent length chapter with some humor, action, and a bit of set up for future instalments. I'll take that as a win. Thanks to everyone who read my request and PM'd me the ideas instead of posting them. I know it's a hassle, but it makes things easier on my end (plus, a FanFiction account is REALLY convenient to have).**_

 _ **I'm currently in the process of moving this chapter to a new selection I'm trying to get the FanFiction devs to build; our own**_ _ **BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle**_ _ **section. At the time of writing this I've yet to see it's construction, but I'll try to find some way to let you all know.**_

 _ **Now for the review responses from the last chapter.**_

Kaiser Ultima: Considering this is (anime) Yu we're talking about, we may never know the answer.

EpicLinkSam: I swear, Ruby's battle quote burn on Hyde is one of the best intro… next to the adorkable interaction with her an Ragna of course.

Akasui: Possibly… maybe an intense boost if Ragna finds another version of the spectacles of Eros.

Wlyman2009: I hadn't planned on it, but now that you mention it…

The Unplanner: You got the PM I sent, but the system I've made for now is based on the _points_ put into it, not the ranks you have. A good idea all the same though.

Raider301: I did, and I don't know why everyone says it leaves no impact, I loved pulling it of once in a match.

Mugen7: A lot of good points, and I'm trying to get them slowly used to the idea.

Freefall622: Thanks, I really think those four would really interact like that in their own apartment.

Heikitsune: You don't say.

The esper add: I wouldn't say I'm struggling, in fact this has been a lot of fun for me.

 _ **Now for the Omake. This one a little more on the tame and goofy side, but I feel it's fun to do.**_

 _Cross Tag… Apartment? Part 2: Lunch_

"Finally, we get our lunch break," Hyde sighed with relief before laying his head on his desk. "So… damn… tired…"

"I know right!?" Chie Satonaka exclaimed from behind him. "How on earth did Kashiwagi think that we could write five whole pages on the section by the end of the period! The stuff we needed to report on was only seven pages long!"

"Maybe it's cause of this rumor I've heard," a certain _Captain Resentment_ suggested from behind them. "I've heard that her boyfriend dumped her over the weekend, so she's been taking it out on all of the students."

"Come on Yosuke, I don't even think she _had_ a boyfriend," Chie said back to him with doubt.

"Either way, we should probably head up to the roof," Orie suggested as she lifted her school bag. "Everyone else is probably waiting up there.

"To think she even dismissed us to lunch late," Weiss Schnee shook her head. "Even I'm starting to feel infuriated with this woman's unethical punishments."

"...Starting to?" Yu questioned aloud, as he glanced over to Weiss's desk where two pencils snapped roughly in half lay. "By the way, where's Yukiko?"

"I think she got called out back to the Amagi Inn to help out… Kashiwagi didn't like that much," Chie said with a grimace.

"And it's only Monday…" Yosuke groaned. "Man, this week's gonna suuuuuuuuck."

Heading upstairs to the roof level, they found their other group members waiting for them including the fourth year students Noel, Makoto, and Linne, and the second year students Kanji, Naoto (Shirogane), Rise, and of course Ruby.

"Senpai, you made it! I was so worried you wouldn't show!" Rise said with her usual bright smile at Yu. While everyone knew that the former Idol would never treat anyone poorly, her favoritism for Narukami was partially apparent. Giving a small groan at his friend's luck, Yosuke took a seat followed by everyone else.

"What's with you guys? You're acting like you just came from a funeral," Kanji noted.

"More like an execution! Our homeroom teacher has assigned so much homework I don't know how I'm going to find the time to do it after work!" Yosuke complained. "Seriously, doesn't she know we have, I don't know _lives?_ "

"Are you making this seem larger than it actually is like usual?" the calm and calculated Naoto asked.

"I doubt it, I accidentally passed by Kashiwagi in the hall and boy if looks could _killlll_ ," Makoto noted before considering. "...Though when she passed by Noel, she let out this weird dark chuckle. Like a _Mwahahaha!_ one and junk."

' _I think I know why, but they'd kick my ass if I said anything,_ ' Hyde thought to himself as he glance between Makoto's chest and Noel's… cutting board.

"How petty," Linne said, as usual being a woman of few words.

"We don't have a whole lot of time, so we should probably dig in," Ruby said before opening her lunch box and pulling out the cookie.

"Aren't you supposed to save that for last?" Weiss asked Ruby quite seriously.

"If we don't have a lot of time, I'm eating this first so I can enjoy it," Ruby told her with a smirk as she began eating.

"Honestly…" Weiss groaned.

"Back to the subject of work I think we should try and pull a study session tonight," Orie suggested to them, before hearing the entire groups groan. Even if some of them were in different classes, they all tried to stick together. "You don't approve?"

"Nah, the study sessions are fine, it's just that we've have to do 'em so much lately," Hyde groaned. "It's only the fourteenth and we've had to meet ten times this month already just on homework assignments and projects. Not even _King Moron_ had us doing this much work!"

Kinshiro Morooka (unaffectionately named _King Moron_ by the students), had previous taught the second year class now run by Kashiwagi. He'd been a crass, rude, and sadistic teacher to all of the students, even those on the honor roll. He'd been killed by a former student some time ago in a rather grotesque fashion. Even though he was gone, he'd introduced several back breaking and confidence sapping projects that were still planned to be carried out to this day, leading students to believe that he was smiting them (or at least spiting them) from beyond the grave.

"Well as long as we're stuck like this, we might as well make the best of things," Chie said sounding oddly cheerful "I know! Let's study at Narukami-san's apartment, I feel like we made a ton of progress the last time we studied there."

"Like hell we did; you just want to go there so Ragna can make you dinner!" Hyde accused. The last time the group had met was when Ragna had somehow managed to get a decent bonus at his job along with a permanent raise. He'd gotten steaks for the four of them to celebrate… but he hadn't counted on the other's stopping by for dinner, _especially_ the carnivorous Chie.

"It wouldn't really matter either way, he's not going to be there tonight," Yu told her. "The restaurant he works at got a call last night asking for a private event so Ragna-san's going to be working late." Yu then gave a sigh. "And this isn't out of the ordinary either; in fact it's slowly starting to become the status quo for him."

"I had no idea, poor guy," Chie sighed with a grimace as she realized that she'd just been about to push more work onto an already stressed man.

"Oh ho ho!" came Yusuke's sudden chuckle. Yu suddenly felt his blood go cold; this wasn't going to end well.

"Okay, what's with that creepy laugh Hanamura?" Linne demanded.

"Nothing, just thinking that maybe Chie doesn't _only_ want to head over for the steak," he teased with his classic wink. "So are older guys your type or-?"

" _ **TRIAL OF THE DRAGON!"**_

"AUGH!" Yosuke screamed as he was blasted into the the roof's chain link fence.

"Just had to open your damn mouth, didn't you?" Kanji sighed at Yosuke's behavior.

"Of course he did; he's Yosuke," Weiss said with a dignified sigh as she continued to eat her lunch.


	9. Trade

_**Rebellion the Seventh: Trade**_

"Any ideas what we ought to do for our second day in town?" Yu inquired as he, Hyde, and Ruby sat at their table in _The Journeyman's Reprieve_ Inn for their breakfast.

For their "leader's" absence, as usual whenever it turned to meal time at the Inn Ragna was hard at work helping in the kitchen and getting his skill to rise. It was long, busy, low paying work, but the Inn had become so busy with hungry customers as of late that the work was plentiful and he could get his _Cooking_ skill up rather quickly. Plus, at least this way he didn't have to worry about spending the team's hard earned coin to purchase ingredients.

"Maybe we should go around town and try to find a more permanent place to put up our handiwork?" Hyde suggested with a cocky smirk as he looked over his shoulder.

On display nearby was the giant head of the monstrous _Jade Serpent_ (that was the name they'd given it) that they'd hunted down the day prior. Needless to say, the four of them had gotten plenty of odd looks from the townspeople as Ragna carried the massive head through the streets. They started asking the townspeople if they knew any good spots to put it up either as an odd but eye catching decoration or a deterrent for bandits hoping to invade the city. They hadn't come up with any answers so they'd considered just putting the damn thing away… though Liza had suggested that they could bring it into her Inn. As such the head (while imposing) had become some form of attraction and had brought more business despite the few tables it was currently taking up.

"I… I think we can leave that to the townspeople, they'll probably know where to put this thing better than any of us," Ruby told them. "But speaking of town, we've already been here a few days but the only parts we've seen of it are the church and this Inn. I wanna explore!"

"We're not here on sightseeing, you realize we've still got plenty of work to do," Hyde reminded her.

"She's got a good point though," Yu decided to tell him, backing Ruby's idea. "After all we might've managed with our equipment so far, but there's no telling what else we could come across out there. Maybe it's worth going into town and at least seeing the services the town can provide. We've been making some good coin lately, so why not head out and hit a couple of stores while we can?"

"You guys want more food?" a smiling Liza asked as she approached the group, the small tub in her hands carrying the dirty dishes of the satisfied customers.

"Nah, we're still working on this, but I think we'll be fine," Yu told her as he ate a small spoonful of oats.

"Gotta say Liza, you've been looking pretty chiper all morning," Hyde input.

"You think so?" the waitress asked him.

"Hell yeah I do, you haven't stopped smiling once at all," Hyde told her with a smirk of his own. "It's nice to see honestly."

"Well it's thanks to the three of you that I've managed to feel this way," she told them as she looked at the monster head nearby. "Ever since you brought that thing into our shop, we've been getting a ton of business and since we've got that friend of yours in the kitchen he's sure to give them a meal that people come back for. I've never heard of half the dishes he's been making and every single one of them's been a hit. If this keeps up we'll finally be able to start that remodeling my dad's been talking about, maybe even add a fourth story to Inn!"

"That would be nice," Yu admitted as he looked around the Inn's lowest level. "Pardon me for saying so, but your place does seem to be a little on the small side."

"It can be, but we're sort of used to that by now," she told him as her eyes turned somewhat sad, but her smile struggled to remain. "But… I have the feeling we'll be getting crowded no matter how many rooms we end up adding."

"Is that really a bad thing though? It seems like it'd be good for business," Ruby noted.

"Maybe… but most of the people that are coming to this town lately have been arriving because they have nowhere else to go. The common people have been running to towns tucked away in the far ends of the kingdom like this one because the larger cities have become too dangerous… Funny, not too long ago I always heard stories about families leaving their farming and mining roots to strike it big in the capital… Now all I hear are stories from families fleeing from it… those that make it here anyways."

"...Maybe it's time that we headed out to the capital then," Hyde suggested. It was clear that Liza couldn't believe her ears.

"N-No one heads for the capital these days," the blonde waitress said, clearly aghast with the idea, as were several of the other patrons who were looking at the three in shock.

"That's why we're going," Ruby said with conviction. "After all we handled that giant snake didn't we!?" Putting one leg up on the table and keeping the other on the chair, the young huntress struck a dramatic pose. "TRUST US! WE'RE HEADING TO SAVE THE PEOPLE OF THE CAPITAL AND NOTHING IS GOING TO STOP US!" Ruby stayed there for a few moments extremely proud of herself… right until she saw a message pop up.

 _Gained Three Ranks to Sex Appeal_

Her face started to glow crimson as she looked around and took notice of all of the young farm boys and merchants that were staring at her. She then quickly took a seat and roughly pulled her hood over her head before her entire body curled up in embarrassment.

"Done cooking," came the casual announcement of one Ragna the Bloodedge as he headed out of the kitchen with his treasured red coat slung over his shoulder. He seemed pretty pleased with himself, until he took a look as his partner. "...Okay, why is Ruby's face even redder than her clothes?"

"You've got us there," Yu told him as looked at his still half filled bowl of oats. "You mind giving us a minute to finish up here?"

"Don't need to; I'm heading out alone today." The Reaper rolled his eyes as he noticed the concern Yu and Hyde were showing him while Ruby was still embarrassed at the attention she'd gotten. "Okay seriously _Rubes_ , what's with you?"

"I-I-It's just that-" Ruby was about to come up with a cover (lie) for her complexion, but then focused on something entirely different. "What did you just call me?"

" _Rubes?_ Just a nickname I made for you; since you're probably tough enough to where I can't call you kid," Ragna told her, showing Ruby a rare display of appreciation and praise. "You don't like it?"

 _Gained One Rank to Sex Appeal_ read the screen in front of the Reaper who only stared at the message before turning away, refusing to look Ruby in the eye. At the very least, this text was for his eyes only.

"Now Ragna's looking like his clothes too," Liza whispered to Yu and Hyde.

"Was it something he cooked?" Hyde suggested, looking at his meal with a touch of suspicion now.

"That's probably not it," Yu reasoned before deciding it was time to drop the banter and move on to the more serious issue. "But you're heading out alone? That can't be safe."

"Nothing around here is that "safe", 'sides I won't be gone long," Ragna told them before he headed over to the job board and ripped off one of the bounty postings, one of the _human_ bounty postings. "Take a day off, enjoy the city; go get a break from my abysmal luck at least." Without giving them any room to argue, the Grim Reaper exited the premises.

"Well… have fun in town," their waitress awkwardly wished them before heading back into the kitchen.

"...I guess we're exploring _Heavencliff_ then," Yu said, though it was clearly obvious. "Guess Ragna doesn't think that we're ready yet."

"Normally I'd hate anyone looking down on me like this… but I think a break from all of the fighting sounds kind of nice. It's the least we deserve, right?" Hyde's calm smirk had everyone slowly nodding their heads.

"Then it's settled _OPERATION: FUN DAY,_ commence!" Ruby said with energy. "Well… more fun than usual, at the very least we're not spending all day hunting or *shudders* harvesting monster corpses."

"And that's the real victory for you here," Yu and Hyde muttered in unison.

It wasn't much later that the crew had managed to finish their meal. Leaving their money on the table (along with a considerable tip for Liza), the party of three exited the Inn to start their tour of the city.

"Let's see… where do we even start?" Yu thought to himself as he crossed his arms.

"Excuse me?" a voice asked. Turning their heads, the three of them saw a girl with short brown hair that was dressed in grey clothing that appeared well kept and slightly decorated by an occasional oddly shaped insignia and a metal piece light a chair or plate, but they could hardly call it flamboyant given their own apparel.

"If I remember things right you're the one that handled our job completion yesterday, am I right?" Hyde asked and the woman nodded. "Figured, what can we do for you?"

"I was wondering what the four of you had planned for today," she told them. "You piqued my interests and I was wondering what you'd hoped to accomplish today… though it seems one of you is absent from the group."

"Our leader, yeah," Ruby explained. "He just headed out to take care of a job by himself, so you sort of just missed him."

"I see." The woman appeared to be considering what she'd been told. "And he's confident he could get it done alone?"

"He's… sort of the loner type… we basically shackled him with the leader role," Yu admitted. "He should be fine though, I doubt he'll do anything too risky." ' _Not that his luck is going to give him much of a choice either way.'_

"I see…" she said, appearing to be the serious business type. "My name is May Greenfreed, as you're aware I work for the governor's office. Sorry for you belated introduction."

"Not a problem; name's Kido Hyde, but you can just call me Hyde," the blond introduced himself.

"Narukami Yu, but Yu's preferable," the silver hair stated.

"Rose Ruby," the huntress introduced though it felt a little awkward to use her last name first. "Call me Ruby. And the guy that you just missed was Ragna."

"Yes, I already know your names from yesterday's paperwork," May told them seriously.

"We just wanted to be polite," Hyde sighed. "So May, if you work at the Governor's Office I take it that means you know your way around _Heavencliff_."

"That would come with the job territory, yes," she admitted.

"Cool, with all of the fighting we've been doing, we barely know our way around this place. Mind showing us around?" Hyde asked, getting a rather quizzical response from May. "I mean… if you don't mind. If you do though, do you know someone else that could be our guide?"

"It's not that I have a problem with it, it's just…" May prepared herself. "This town isn't much different from your standard farming village; we've got a blacksmith, a leather worker, an herbalist, and a general goods store. We don't even have an alchemist, much less a magic shop."

"Maybe…" Yu had to agree, though his mind did devise an easy cover story. "Though if you work for the governor's office would you mind introducing them to us personally; they must have dealt with you at some point or another given your role."

"I suppose I have no objections to this plan," she admitted. "I do have the day off from work, but this _could_ be classified as part of my duties… Very well, I suppose you have yourself a guide."

"Great, the more the merrier and this beats just wandering around the place," Ruby told her. "So what's the first place on the list?"

"Our very own forge; it's the pride of the city and has access to some pretty decent work with the steel… though you may find better if you felt like venturing into the Dwarven city in the mountains," May admitted as she lead the group to the blacksmith.

"Yeah, I guess a Dwarven city would have to have the best… wait, Dwarves?" Hyde asked, trying his damndest to hide the shock in his eyes. "You've got Dwarves in the mountains?"

"It's not too surprising; the inside of a large mountain range like the one to the east of our town is a common place for a Dwarven civilization, much the same as the forest would be the perfect home for the Elves."

"...R-right, I just never knew you had them as neighbors," Hyde tried to cover as he reconsidered that he was in a fantasy world. "Come to think of it, we haven't seen any of them around the city? Do they not live here?"

"We had some living here a time ago, but all of them have moved themselves back to their city… Though if you stick around for their trade shipment of ore to arrive, you'll be able to ask them about the city yourself… just know that they'll usually ask for at least a few drinks in exchange for stories about their city… or anything else."

' _And Ragna won't let us drink,'_ Yu thought to himself. ' _Guess that means he's the only one that will be able to have dealings with the Dwarves.'_

It didn't take the group long before they we in at the town's _Blacksmith Shop_. The setting was a basic open air forge to let the smoke and steam out of the place and allow fresh air into the building. Several men were hard at work crafting a few weapons, but most of their focus was on farming tools and the occasional line of chains. This left their weapon lover more than a little disappointed at her prospects of fantasy weaponry, but they figured that this would at best limit her excitement.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" an especially burly man said as he approached the group. "May Greenfreed, what brings you to my forge on your day off? And with a group of minstrels no less."

"Minstrels, really?" Hyde sighed, a little disappointed that he'd been mistaken for being just your run of the mill performer.

"I'm just showing these three around the city; apparently they didn't have enough time to explore with their busy schedule of slaying goblins, spiders, and giant serpents."

"...You're pulling my leg," the blacksmith said as the other forge workers paused in their work. "These are the folk I've heard about? I thought they were all giants of men, a single one able to hoist that giant serpent's head over his shoulder with his bare hands."

"That's our leader…" Ruby decided to explain. "And he didn't hoist it over his head, he sort of awkwardly slumped it over his shoulder."

"Oh… Well anyways you three can call me Grudard; local blacksmith and forger of dreams," he said with a smirk.

"You realize that slogan taking off is more a dream than anything else," came May's blunt observation, which made Grudard grunt in emotional pain. "But yes, he's your man to go to for forging weapons around the city if you can find him good ore. He can also improve your current gear if you have enough monster cores."

"Monster cores?" Ruby asked as she reached into her back and brought out the stone that they'd obtained yesterday. "Is this one of them?"

"Y-Yeah, that'll get you by with an upgrade," Grudard observed with a surprise. "I've never seen a core that big before… where the hell did you get it?"

"From the giant snake that we killed yesterday," Yu told him. "How difficult is it to apply the upgrade?"

"Depends on how good the weapon already is, but I can't guarantee anything until I've actually tried to work with it."

"In that case I think we'll want to hold onto this until we talk it over a little more," Ruby told him. "At the very least we know what this thing is and how to use it now."

"That's a plus," Yu agreed.

"In that case, feel free to come back whenever you feel like it; if you've got designs I might be able to forge a new blade or something for the lot of you."

"Thanks, we'll bear it in mind," Hyde agreed as the three started heading out.

"...Remember you have half a fortnight to finish the order we've given you," May told the _Blacksmith_ as a reminder before walking off.

"Sheesh… that's woman's merciless," Grudard muttered to himself before picking up his hammer and striking it down on the chain he'd been working on.

"What kind of order are you asking him for?" Ruby decided to ask as she followed May down the streets.

"...I'm afraid that's critical information to the governor's office; forgive me but I wouldn't be doing my job if I just went and told you."

"Eh, I was just curious," the young huntress told her trying to show that there were no hard feelings. "But you're really serious about this job of yours aren't you?"

"In my position I have to be; it doesn't reflect well on the Governor if I make careless mistakes and it reflects worse on the town if our Governor is ever cast in a poor light."

"Does the Governor have many enemies to- No, never mind. Forget I even asked," Hyde told her, figuring he wouldn't get an answer.

"...He has a few, and not all of them are in plain sight. Aside from the monsters and bandits in this area, there are those in the courts that would love nothing more than to take _Heavencliff_ for themselves. Our position next to the mines makes us a decent enough trading hub despite our somewhat secluded location in the kingdom… Any noble worth the name would take an opportunity to cast us in a poor light to advocate a change in leadership."

"That certainly sounds like a difficult problem," Yu admitted.

"It is… but I suppose you've helped us in that regard with your monster hunting," she told them as she stopped in front of one of the buildings. "We're here; this is our city's main store for general trading."

"And the next stop on the list," Hyde said as he opened the door for the group, mainly for May in an attempt to increase his _Sex Appeal_ skill. Inside they found a man only slightly older than them with light purple hair sitting behind his counter with his head slumped over, clearly bored out of his mind.

"Really, Morris… May sighed as she sighed and she headed to the front desk. "How are you expecting to do any business if that's the look you make to greet your customers?"

"Like it matters," Morris muttered as he continued to slump over. "I'm still the best trader in town… and it's not like I'm going to get much business until the shipment from the mountains arrives.." He then looked up to the group. "New faces, eh? Welcome to my humble little emporium of goods. You looking to buy or just here to drop something off for some coin?"

"Um… Both I guess," Hyde told him. "First off, what've you got for sale?"

"Plenty; how's about this nice bear rug all prepared for your house?" Morris asked as he gestured to the wall… essential showing a bear pelt complete with the head. "Perfect thing to put your feet on in the morning instead of some cold, frigid floor. Only ten gold and that's a steal."

"We… don't have a house to put it in." Ruby tried to be polite in her declination, but she could barely stand to look at the thing. "...Anything else you've got?"

"If you don't have a house I got saddles, perfect for your horses," he tried to suggest, but the look on Hyde's face made it clear that he wasn't interested. "Leather boots for traveling?" he tried, leading everyone to pick up their feet and show their prefered footwear. "Damn… this is getting tough… how about a nice set of traveling cloaks like the lady's?"

"We're good," Hyde said before trying to put his mind to the test. ' _Let's see here… fantasy world… Fantasy game…_ ' "...You have any… I don't know… healing potions?"

"...Are you serious?" Morris asked with an eyebrow raised, leaving Hyde worried that he'd done something stupid in his guess. The was before gave him a large smile and dove beneath his desk. "I've been saving these for a while, since I never thought that anyone in town would be able to afford them, but it looks like I'm in luck."

He then brought out four corked glass vials, all of them carrying a strange green liquid inside that seemed to have a strange glow to them… almost a magical one.

"These are the best potions that you'll find in the city… in fact I'd say it would be rare if you found another potion anywhere else at all in this town. These aren't cheap at 15 gold per… but it's going to be the difference between life and death."

"Fifteen gold per…" Hyde thought to himself as he considered their funds. While they'd gotten plenty of money with their work and they'd started out with a good amount of gold, if they paid for all four of them that would wipe them out entirely.

"We'll take two of them then," Yu told him. Hyde could clearly see it that while Yu's eyes were directed at Morris, chances were that he was trying something out in his own menu. Hyde gave a sigh before nodding as Ruby handed over their hard earned coin whilst May stood back and let business play out.

"They won't let you down in a pinch, I guarantee that much… mind the taste though," Morris warned. "So anything else I can get from you?"

"That depends, can you buy the spider parts that we've harvested?" Yu asked him, apparently done with whatever he was working with.

"I'll buy 'em, but keep in mind that how much I'm willing to pay you for it depends on the quality of the spider and how well the harvester did on them," he informed. Looking over the bits of spider that they'd brought over, he scratched his chin. "Hmm… Not a bad job I gotta say… Alright, for the full spiders I'm willing to part with five copper per."

"J-Just five copper!?" Ruby shouted in outrage. "Do you know how disgusting it is to harvest those things!?"

"In that case find better targets to get money out of, these things are cheap and they've been found just about everywhere. If I paid much more I'd be run out of-"

 _ **SLAM!**_

Everyone jolt in surprise as Yu slammed his open palm down upon the table, the look of intensity in the young man's eyes as he looked dead into Morris's eyes before him. Even May felt a small twitch of fear, worried of what this young man would possibly try to do.

"...I thought I saw a bug on your table, guess not," Yu told them calmly.

"You almost gave me a heart attack!" Morris shouted at him. "Honestly…"

"Hmm… how about instead of five copper, you up the price to say… fifteen copper?" Yu suggested. "And since you don't want to go out of business from selling these we'll only give you a couple. I'm sure that you and your experience could make a hefty profit selling these off as materials somewhere."

"Fifteen copper is far too much, especially given how many spider there are outside the town walls," Morris protested. "I'd be willing to settle for seven… grudgingly."

"Well, we won't overburden you with countless spider parts. And we were very kind on the prices of the potions you selling to us?" Yu told him, starting to smiling beamingly and work his _Sex Appeal's Versatile Charm Skill_ into this ploy. "How about 12 copper per and we'll only sell you a few?"

"I…" Morris grunted at the young teen, as Yu kept up this facade. "...One silver and I'll buy four of them from you! That's as high as I'll go!"

"Sold!" Yu said in agreement. Ruby and Hyde glanced at each other in concern while a screen in front of Yu read _Gained One Rank to Barter._ "Now then…" he began before reaching inside the backpack and bringing out the rare snake hide from yesterday, slamming a good portion of it upon the table with great fanfare. "Now that we know what a common spider is really worth, what can we get for this?"

Morris was practically drooling as he saw the material laid out before him; he _had_ to have something this rare, the possibilities of a profit were just too great. By the end the party hard earned back a solid ten gold for the portion of the scales that they'd sold and Yu had increased his _Barter_ skill, quickly earning rewards for the point he'd just invested into it.

"You three certainly know how to trade," May commended as they exited the building. "I can't remember the last time I saw Morris raise his prices that high."

"We have to get coin somehow," Yu told her calmly, though it was clear he was very pleased with these developments. "Now, we still have the Leather workers and the Herbalist to talk to, don't we?"

"Indeed," May said before giving him a smile. "I'm interested to see what other kinds of deals you might attempt at those shops."

"I'll be sure not to disappoint," the silver hair told her with a smile as the group continued walking through the town. "...Hope Ragna's having as much luck as we are."

"This is Ragna we're talking about," Ruby told them. "Chances are he's alive…"

"But he's having a hell of time with whatever he's dealing with," Hyde finished with a sigh.

 _ **Author's Note:**_

 _ **...Not much to say on the chapter, was going to make it longer except it would take longer to put out so I decided to split it into two smaller chapters. Anyways, let's handle the reviews and get to the Omake.**_

 _Wlyman2009_ : Pardon, but I don't know what you're calling 'rich'.

 _The Unplanner:_ Good review, but the plan wasn't exactly boneheaded.

 _Guest_ : No… I think this was more a team effort.

 _BlackSavior_ : Here you go.

 _HeiKitsune:_ Whatever floats your boat buddy.

 _AGuyWithAStory_ : Eh… not like he really needs it.

 _fernandamichelleraya_ : I hope to continue to impress.

 _ **Not too many review, but here's the Omake.**_

 _Not Another One…_

 _-In the Keystone world-_

"For the love of GOD!" Ragna shouted in his range as he swung his blade around blocked the incoming hail of bullets Aegis was firing at him. He was about to advance on her with a counter strike, but it then that Vatista shot an orb of energy his way and he had to leap out out of the way. "GIVE IT A REST WILL YA!"

"Target confirmed," came Nu's monotone voice. "No one is allowed to hurt Ragna but Nu… Perish!" Several blades blasted out in a deadly torrent… heading straight towards the Grim Reaper.

"WE'RE ON THE SAME SIDE THIS MATCH DAMN IT!" Ragna shouted at her. "AW SCREW IT! I'M OUT OF HERE!"

"Wait Ragna, we haven't become one yet!" Nu cried as Ragna was about to sprint off the field.

"Become one? Possibilities?" Vatista said as she processed the information. "Possibilities; fusion, soul searching, bond forming… Intercourse."

"NO!" came Ragna's flushed scream.

"It seems that he simply does not want you," Ageis told Nu bluntly. The Murakumo unit had been about to chase after Ragna, but stopped _cold_. Slowly turning, something about the look her visor was sending their way cause the fellow robot girls to actually shiver in fear.

"... _ERASING TARGET._ " The entire ground started to rumble with the sheer force of her rage as a complete hailstorm of summoned swords began to appear and-

"CALM DOWN DAMN IT!" Ragna shouted as he ran back behind Nu and tried his damndest to restrain her. He might not have owed anything to these robot chicks, but he didn't think they deserved whatever terrors Nu was going to subject them to.

"LET GO RAGNA! NU HAS TO DESTROY THESE GIRLS! WE CAN SNUGGLE LATER!"

"WE AIN'T SNUGGLING DAMN IT!" Ragna shouted as her petal blades continued to impale him, trying to force him to let go of her… that was when he saw the other two charging their attacks now that they'd been giving an opening. "...Try to help someone and this is how they pay you back..."

"...Firing," Aegis announced, creating an explosion that could be seen for miles.

 _Later_

"That sounds… problematic," Ruby told him as she and Ragna were sitting at atop the Monorail as it sped by the mountain range.

"Yep… that's what happened to me in a nutshell," a wounded and healing Ragna muttered as he gave a harsh groan. "I just don't know what the hell it is that makes every robot girl try and off me like that, but I'm damn sick of it… I swear to god, the next one of them that even looks at me funny I'm EVISCERATING THEM!"

"Right…" Ruby said to him with a worried sigh before she glanced over her shoulder and saw a familiar friend. "Is that-?"

"Ruby Rose!" came the sudden call right before the young huntress was tackled. Ragna only watched on, confused at the orange haired girl he'd never met while she was practically strangling Ruby in a hug.

"P-Penny!?" she exclaimed. "What are you doing here!?"

"I was called to this world the same as you were," Penny said with a beaming smile. "It looks like I'll be a part of this event as well."

"That's great! It'll be so good to have you here!" Ruby said with her own beaming smile, happy that she'd been reunited with yet another friend.

"So… this girl's from your world then," Ragna's voice cut in, reminding Ruby of his last threat.

"Why yes I am, friend of Ru-" Penny had been about to introduce herself to Ragna, but that was when Ruby grabbed her friend and took off at top speed.

"RUN PENNY RUN! ABORT! ABORT! ABORT!" she screamed, sailing through the air as she used her speed semblance to flee.

"...Was it something I said?" the Grim Reaper could only ask.

 _ **This is why we don't have Penny in CROSS TAG BATTLE. Cross Tag Apartment next time guys. Ciao!**_


	10. Unstoppable Will

_Rebellion the Eighth: Unstoppable Will_

"Well that's our shopping done for today," Hyde says with a sigh. "Jeeze, we didn't even go out to fight monsters and I'm still feeling pretty wiped."

"We still did a lot of walking around… even if there wasn't really a lot to see," Ruby said with nervous giggle. "But man oh man Yu, you were scoring us some major deals out there! You never told me you could barter!"

"It's… just something I sort of picked up," Yu told them as he scratched the back of his head. "You know, like a special _skill_ or something."

"Special is right," their guide May noted as she examined the travelers. "Ever since I first saw you three you've always had this odd air about you… and spending time with you now you all seem a little clueless yet strangely talented."

"...You're not wrong I guess," Hyde admitted with a sigh. "Lately a lot of our travel's have been nothing but luck… well, maybe luck's not the right word. Simple then. We try to get somewhere, we find a monster or two, and we beat 'em down. That's about as much as you have to do to survive."

"When it comes to survival I suppose a simple approach is the best one… but you three don't look like you're just trying to survive. So what are you really trying to do?"

"...Save the kingdom maybe?" Yu told her, earning some surprise at from May at his bluntness. "Ruby, do that pose again. That should get the message across."

"NO WAY!" she shouted before crossing her arms and puffing her cheeks out in a scowl.

' _She did look kind of red after doing it last time_ ,' Hyde thought to himself. "But yeah, we're the type of idiots that can't exactly let what's been going on in the kingdom become a norm. Call us what you want, but we've got to do our part… whatever that turns out to be."

"I see… but if you have aspiration that strong, then wouldn't it be better to have gone somewhere a bit more… dangerous? Excluding the massive snake, the spider problem might be spreading but there's sure to be somewhere that could use your talents more than we can here."

"We were… in the area!" Ruby decides before smiling and trying to save. "Yeah, we just happened to be here and see your town! That's why we're starting here!"

"...In the middle of nowhere you just happened to be in the area to where you could save our town from a massive serpent?" May asked her eyes growing suspicious.

"I know it sounds odd, but that's the truth," Yu told her before using his _Sex Appeal_ skill in a warm and inviting smile. "Don't you believe me?"

' _Dude, really? We've already seen that this doesn't work like that…'_ Hyde thought with a sigh, right before seeing the large blush on May face as with her fingers fidgeting nervously as she couldn't appear to look Yu straight in the eye. ' _WHAT THE CRAP!? HOW MUCH SWAG DOES THIS GUY HAVE!?'_

"But in all seriousness, we needed somewhere to build our skills," Yu admitted, changing gears so quickly that everyone else nearly got whiplash. "If we headed any closer to the capital, I doubt that we'd be able to survive… even with our leader's power."

"I see…" May began, as she thought the info over. "So you're really here to build up your levels then."

"L-Levels?" Hyde asked with a stutter. ' _I thought that the powers that we got were special… meaning that only the heroes from the prophecy could get them… so why does she have them?'_

"...You really are clueless then," she noted with a sigh before opening her palm. A strange marron glow came from her hands right before a small scroll appeared there. All of the three looked at each other with a sense of confusion. "...Go ahead, open it and you'll see."

Taking a hesitant breath, Ruby took the scroll and shakily opened it as the two boys glanced over her shoulders. Inside the scroll was something that they hadn't expected to be seeing. A form not unlike their own screen listing out May's name, her class which read _Base_ , her level of three, her stats, her abilities, and the few magic spells that she knew.

"What you're holding there is what's called a _Soul Scroll_ ; it's a special item that's often used by adventurer's in order to keep their stats in order. In order to gain access to one you usually have to undergo a powerful ritual called an _Inner Awakening_. Your own strengths and the quality of the ritual you're able to afford can set the limits to your awakening…"

"I...I see," Yu said as he overlooked the scroll. ' _If her class is called 'Base' then that must mean that her ritual didn't have that high of a quality which reflects in her lower stats. But then…?_ ' "Don't you have a section for _Skills_ somewhere on here?"

"Skills?" May asked with confusion.

"Yeah, _Skills_ ," Ruby said. "You know things that will help you get through the daily grind, stuff that lets you do really awesome things with your day to day responsibilities… Don't you have anything like that?"

"I've… heard rumor that there are some high ranking scrolls that allow you to see how skilled your are in certain fields… but I can't say that I've ever seen one myself," May admitted with a sigh.

' _Now who's the clueless one?'_ Hyde thought to himself with earned cockiness. ' _Maybe it's just a special set of abilities that we managed to get thanks to the Inner Awakening that we had, might explain why we got it and May here doesn't._ '

"But you three can fight, even without a _Soul Scroll_ of any kind…" May notes. "I've heard that certain low class warriors and mages are able to perform without them, but it sounds like it's a very difficult thing to accomplish. I'd suggest that you find a way to get your own _Inner Awakening_ , though I'm afraid our small church here likely wouldn't be of any major help."

"All the same, thank you for the information," Yu says pleasantly as Ruby hands May her scroll back and its owner lets it fade into the same brown light. They're about to continue on their way… but then Yu notices a large group of people heading their way with a familiar face at the head. "Is that-?"

"Ragna!" Ruby calls out with a cheerful wave at the the Reaper. Ragna didn't seem to react, but as the guy beside him laughs and give a hearty slap on his shoulder his team begins to show confusion. "Eh? Who's that with him?"

"Someone he had to rescue maybe? Nah, he said was on a bounty hunting job," Hyde remembered, thinking back to that morning. "Either way he doesn't look like he's exactly in the best of moods right now."

As the Reaper made their way up to the three, the man with brightly colored hair hair that had hit the Reaper, says something to him before leaving followed closely behind with a young woman about a head shorter who wore a traveling cloak similar to his.

"Glad you made it back safe!" Ruby said to him, trying to remain energetic with a warm smile on her face. Ragna shot her a cocky smile back, but it didn't seem to last long as his expression turned serious almost immediately afterwards. "How did your job go?"

"Without a… with one… okay, there were some of hitches but I'm still alive dammit," Ragna told them with a sigh, whilst his three teammates chuckled awkwardly at his repeated misfortune. "So… how'd you three do? Enjoy some time off?"

"Yes and no," Yu told them. "We didn't exactly spend the day off, but we managed to get a couple of great deals and learned about the town. All thanks to May here," Yu said, giving due credit to their guide.

"That right? Thanks then…" Ragna said to the woman who only gave him a polite bow. "You guys can keep exploring or whatever, I've still got some stuff to take care of."

"About that, does it have anything to do with that guy that was talking to you?" Hyde asked, leaving Ragna to give a short sigh. "I'll take that as a reluctant yes… So what's his deal then?"

"...Well for one thing he's about to be my opponent along with that daughter of his," the Grim Reaper tells the group before turning to scowl at the back of the man he'd just been talking to and the girl following him.

 _-A Few Hours Prior-_

" _GAH!"_

 _A sudden scream from a bandit right before his body crashes into a tree, embedding himself deep into the wood before the sudden stop snaps his spine in half. His body slowly slides down said tree, dead to the world. Another bandit lies nearby with his face fatally caved into his head. A third in slump against a tree with a broken neck while a fourth is impaled in the tree branches above. All that remains is one last bandit, their apparent leader, laying on the floor in a small pool of his own piss clutching his treasured axe closely for dear life… the skull necklace around his neck seeming much less intimidating now._

" _H-H-H-How the hell does someone like you even exist?" the final bandit asks in fear as the man in red towers over him. His hands nonchalantly placed in his pockets as he glares down at the waste of a man before him. "First we find you stumbling forward through old hunter traps that we didn't even know were there, then you attract three fully grown grizzlys to fight off, then you almost get crushed when a whole damn tree falls on top of you… and you still aren't dead!"_

 _The man is terrified, but able to rise to his feet, albeit shaking in terror the whole while. The man in red does nothing save for watch and scowl, a wide eyed look about the bandit assuring that he's clearly insane._

" _All of that bad luck… YOU'RE LIKE THE DAMN PLAGUE!"_

 _The bandit swings his weapon a final time, the red coated warrior's hands are still kept in their pockets as the axe sails towards him… and then a murder of crows sound off and fill the air with their deafening caws._

"Even if he was a bastard of an idiot, he was right about one thing," Ragna the Bloodedge thought to himself aloud before he grabbed the axe the lead bandit had been using, proof that he'd completed the job and killed the highway bandits that lurked in the forest along the path to Heavencliff. He was about to turn around, before letting out a rather large sneeze. "Guh… I don't get colds, meaning someone I know is probably talking shit about me right now… Probably the guys still back in town."

Letting out a sigh, he was about to head back, but not before he stops cold. Besides the regular wildlife there's not a sound in the air. A few seconds pass, then a minute... eventually he hears the light crinkle of twigs break as a figure approaches him.

"Heard a scream so I wanted to check what was going on," the tall man said. He was dressed in a travelling cloak so it's difficult to see what his body frame looked like, but Ragna can at least see a sturdy jaw covered in red whiskers and a his uniquely colored hair; the majority of it is red but with deep blue highlight towards the end of each thick, long lock including the long ponytail he has in the back of his head. He's got a relaxed smile on him, at least until he notices Ragna scowling back at him. "Easy, I'm not your enemy… at least I hope I'm not."

"Talk then, who are you?" Ragna asked suspiciously.

"My name is Rojo; Rojo Icarus," he say to the Reaper with a cocky smirk before looking at the bandits surrounding the two. "So that's where these bastards ended up… This your handiwork? Gotta say it's impressive; brutal, but impressive."

"It's _efficient_ ," Ragna tells him, not in the mood for any games.

"Maybe, but you'd probably be at least a little more efficient if you had someone to watch your-"

"Dad! C'mon! They're getting nervous!" comes a call from nearby, interrupting the man.

He shakes his head with a chuckle and points his thumb towards the road. "You heading to _Heavencliff?_ 'Course you are,' there's nothing else around worth going to. How about you hitch a ride with us then?"

"I'll pass; you seem nosy and annoying," Ragna told him so bluntly that Rojo swore he felt a punch to his stomach.

"Oif, fighting's not the only thing you're brutal at apparently… but come on. You're going to pass up a chance to get back on a cushy… on a comfortable… on a smooth… you're really going to walk all the way back?"

"That has to be about the worst sales pitch I've ever heard," the Reaper says to him with an annoyed groan.

"DAD! NOW!" comes the girl's call once more, this one was much more demanding.

"Coming!" he calls before keeping his attention on Ragna. "MAN! Is it nice to get to where I'm going on a wagon! No unnecessary blisters on my feet, I can enjoy some nice scenery, and I can even get some well needed rest." His smirk has gone to a full shit eating grin.

' _Son of a bitch,_ ' Ragna thinks to himself as he sits at the front of the lead wagons. There were five of them total, four of them filled to max capacity with people while the final one held their supplies. Everyone was wearing a traveling cloak with a hood, save for Rojo and a blue haired young lady that Ragna assumed was his daughter. While Rojo stayed on the front wagon, his daughter took the back one since it seemed they were the only people of the convoy equipped and ready for battle.

"You know, never got your name…" Rojo notes as he looks at Ragna. "Kind of unfair since I already gave you mine."

"...Ragna," the Reaper says, not giving an inch.

"That's a rather unique name; first time I've heard it," Rojo says as the wagon travels along. "So then… you're on the road by yourself?"

"Why do you care?" he demands with a scowl.

"Just trying to make small talk," Rojo tells him before guestering around him. "These guys, they're not the most talkative people, but everyone's got a story among us. You see we're all refugees trying to get away from the capital. Life's become so risky there that a town like Heavencliff sounds like paradise." He then focuses on Ragna. "Again… you travelling alone?"

"...My team's already in town, what's it to you?" Ragna relents, hoping to shut Rojo up.

"Then that makes it even worse; you've got a team but you're not working with 'em. That's not just dangerous; it's stupid," Rojo told him causing Ragna's eyes to narrow further into an even shaper scowl at the insult. "Those guys were wanted back where we're from too, but they probably came down here because they weren't dangerous _enough_ … what would you have done if you'd run into some actually strong bastards?"

"The same damn thing, what else?" Ragna shoots back.

"...You're sounding more and more like my cocky little Azula, but even she knows to work as a team," Rojo says before he has a challenging look in his eye. "If you went to the capital with an attitude like that… I'd be looking at your mutilated corpse in some ditch by the end of a week."

"Feh, think whatever you want," Ragna says as he continues to answer with his own scowl, the tension in the wagon quite clearly rising and causing a few of the passengers to worry.

"So that's how you want to play… How's about a little wager if you're feeling so cocky? ...Unless of course you're all talk."

"What'd you have in mind?" Ragna demands, not feeling that he had anything to prove, but finding it difficult to turn down challenging words like that.

"What else? A fight," Icarus says, causing some stirring amongst the convoy members. "Calm down, once we get into town of course." That seemed to relieve them… somewhat. "If you're as strong as you try to look and can beat me and my daughter then I'll be indebted to you; meaning you can ask me for next to anything at any time of your choosing… and I'm a good man to be owed a favor by."

"And if you win?" the Reaper asks, not feeling much doubt in his own abilities… but not wanting to be screwed over all the same.

"...I'll keep it small; that axe you got there," he says as he looks at the weapon Ragna was holding, the same one he'd gotten from the bandits. "I win this battle, the bandit's bounty belongs to me… oh, and you have to buy dinner for me and my Azula at whatever place I think looks good to eat at."

"...Don't go crying when you lose," Ragna tells him darkly, making it clear he has no intentions of being suckered into treating another person. Rojo just give a sigh and opens a burlap sack, grabbing out a piece of salted meat before chewing, knowing it'd be hard to get anything else out of the mysterious man.

 _Back to the Present_

"The crowd's starting to get pretty big," Hyde notes as he walk standing in the plaza of _Heavencliff_ with Ruby as Ragna's preparing for the fight. Yu was off with a group that was mixed with the regular townsfolk and some of the refugees that had managed to make their way to Heavencliff and was talking with them… oddly enough there seemed to be an exchange of money. "I guess word gets out quick in a place like this… Kind of hard to believe all of these people are here to watch two people beat the crap out of each other."

"With this town as small as it is and the people still in fear of all of the spiders outside of the wall they're going to have to take whatever entertainment they can get… Back home there was a tournament where different teams needed to fight in each other; I was part of it even."

"No kidding? That's impressive," Hyde said as a form of a compliment. "So how'd it go?"

"First half was great… second half I'd rather not think about," Ruby told him, thinking back to the way her life had changed, the friends she'd lost… not exactly the best thing to be thinking about.

"Gotcha, won't pry," Hyde promised as Yu came over to the two after talking to a group of the townspeople and holding a small piece of parchment. "What's that you've got there?"

"A small note for the bet I just made," Yu told the group. "I put put Ten gold on Ragna to win and he's got Three to One odds on him… Would've liked to bet more, but that was as high as they'd let me wager…"

"Come on, that's all our master barterer could manage?" Hyde said to his friend with something of a smirk.

"That's _with_ my bartering; the original limit for a bet was supposed to have been only a single gold piece, but I really had to work just to bring my bet above that. Apparently the guy in charge of the betting doesn't have much money to spare."

"Not too big of a surprise, they're refugees from the capital after all… I guess it's a good sign that they have any gold at all to trade with at least," Ruby admitted before she turned over to the a trio of hooded figures talking to Rojo and his daughter. "Hey… is it just me or is something off about those three?"

"No… I've noticed that something's off about them myself," Yu agreed. "I can't place it, but… we should probably leave them for the moment."

"Good call, match is about to start anyways…" Hyde noted, and it appeared he was right as May made her way to the center of the small gathering. "Guess she's announcing."

"All right, now I want a clean fight _without_ damage to the town," she informed both sides strictly. Any intense damage done to it by either side will result in stopping the match at the offending side's loss. The fight will go until one side either admits defeat or is unable to continue." May looked at Rojo's side of the arena as he stood ready with his daughter. "Now… which of you will be the first to fight?"

"Who ever said we were taking turns?" Rojo asked seriously, though his glare was focused squarely at Ragna. "This guy made it clear that he'd be taking both of us on at the same time… unless of course I didn't hear your boasting correctly earlier."

"Tch, go ahead and twist my damn words however you want; won't matter for jack when your ass is on the ground," Ragna promised with an equal if not harsher glare.

Scowling, Rojo threw off his traveling cloak revealing a perfectly toned body complete with red tattoos; a hawkish bird head on the front complete with talons, fiery effects on both of his forearms, and detailed feathery wings on his back. With his cloak off they could see what he used as clothing; dark brown leather pants with a double black belt, leather gloves with studded metal plating around the knuckles, and thick leather shoes.

' _Idiot, I gave you a chance to take an out… ah well, if I don't teach you a brutal lesson here and now then you'll probably end up dead before anything else_.' Rojo shook his head. "Azula…"

"I don't know why you're doing this, I could take care of him myself," Azula said as she too threw off her traveling clock. Unlike her father's clothing, she was dressed in a more traditional sleeveless black martial arts gi, complete with a cobalt blue belt that reflected her shade of blue hair done behind her in a ponytail. She had gloves similar to her dad's along with tattoos on her forearms; her tattoos were colored black and appeared to be based on long ocean waves.

"These guys… they definitely don't look as weak as those monsters we fought earlier… and Ragna's supposed to be fighting both of them at once," Hyde noted nervously.

"R...Ragna should be okay… right?" Ruby asked the group nervously. "I mean… we all know how strong he is, right?"

"Of course he will be, we just have to keep our faith," Yu assured his teammates. "We've held our belief that we can get through any obstacle… this is no different."

"Guess you're right…" Hyde said as he watched Ragna with a smirk. "He may be an ass, but he's one of the toughest asses I've ever known; he's got this."

"Yeah!" Ruby said in agreement before bringing her hands up to shout. "COME ON RAGNA! YOU CAN DO THIS!" The Reaper didn't appear to have heard her… either that or he was too focused on the two in front of him.

"Of course he can," Yu said with a confident smile before beginning to walk off. "Now if you'll excuse me for a moment, I need to-"

"ALL BETS ARE IN! NO NEW WAGERS AND NO BACKING OUT!" came the call from the bookie. "YOUR MONEY STAYS WITH ME UNTIL THE END OF THE FIGHT!"

"...Well there goes our Ten Gold," Yu muttered as he scratched the back of his head.

"YOU JUST TOLD US TO HAVE FAITH!" Ruby and Hyde screamed at the silver haired teen.

( _Cue_ _ **Dragon Ball FighterZ**_ _Broly Theme Extended)_

"You have a pretty colorful group, too bad they have to put up with a stubborn ass like you," Azula said to Ragna, surprising the Reaper with her language. There was then a violent gleam in her eye, something about it he just didn't like. "I'll beat you down _quick_."

She didn't give him a chance to offer a comeback either as she lunged forward and forced him to block. While her speed was impressive enough, Ragna smirked at the ease of blocking the simple strike right before Rojo came up along his other side. Grunting as he twisted his guard, he barely managed to block the father's strike with his other arm. Using her father's attack to her advantage, Azula brought her fist back and drove it forward.

"Weaponless Technique: _GREATER STRIKE!_ " she shouted as she smashed her fist down.

Putting as much force on his blocking arms and legs as he could, Ragna just barely managed to push himself back as Azula's attack screamed through the air, cutting through where he'd been just before striking the ground and creating a small crater in the cobblestone which cause long cracks to spread throughout the square. He didn't have time to be impressed either as Rojo took the advantage and went after Ragna mid-dodge.

"Brawler Skill: _PUNCHING WHIRLWIND!_ "

A complete storm of strikes, so fast to regular eyes that it actually looks like the user is turning their arms into tempest of punches, hence its name. Ragna had no choice, but to bring his arms up in the hopes of guarding before he was blasted back. Digging his feet on the ground, he skidded to a stop just before he hit one of the town house walls.

Ragna then prepared a counter as Azula ran towards him to continue the assault, but his quick jab went over the female fistfighter as she tried to sweep him off of his feet. Ragna managed to tense his leg muscles in order to form a desperate guard. Covering for his daughter, Rojo rushed forward with a clothesline strike that the Reaper managed to guard against using arms, but pushed him all the way back into the building wall. Pushing off said wall, Ragna managed to barely leap over Azula's well timed jab which was so controlled she managed to stop it a hair's breadth before it hit the building. Rojo spun into a powerful skyward kick to catch the Reaper, so Ragna was forced to perform his own kick in midair to clash before he finally landed on sturdy ground.

' _Dammit, they're not giving me any openings,'_ Ragna thought to himself as Azula came at him with another _Great Strike_ which he was force to roll in order to avoid. Rojo had leaped into the air and was trying to dive kick the Reaper, but Ragna managed to dive out of the way and dodge the attack. ' _Seriously, haven't I gone through enough of this shit having to deal with those Clover bastards?'_ He then noticed Azula focusing and readying a punch despite the distance between them. ' _If I've learned anything, then that's trouble.'_

"Weaponless Technique: _FORCE SHOT!_ "

An invisible blast passed by the Reaper and while he'd sidestepped out of the way so he didn't get the full force, what little he did feel gave him cuts along his clothes and skin managing to draw blood.

' _It can do that even with my stats? What the hell?'_

If it hadn't been for his sixth sense protecting him from danger, Ragna might've been too distracted to guard against Rojo's own _Force Shot_. While it would have been next to nothing to brush this attack off at full strength, as he was now even guarding against the attack felt like he was getting hit by _Mag Dog_ Azrael. With their opponent obviously shaken, both fighters of the Icarus family charged towards the Reaper.

' _I've got a chance, but my timing can't be anything less than perfect,'_ Ragna thought to himself as he carefully considered his situation. As he'd thought his experience fighting against Carl and Relius Clover along with their two mechanical dolls would serve him well here, but only if he could act upon it.

This time Rojo took the initiative, slamming into Ragna's guard with a full body tackle and causing the Reaper to grunt as he tried to hold his footing while Rojo then unleashed a mighty and chaotic haymaker on the Reaper's guard, the attack sounding like a cannon shot as it made contact. Azula the then leapt over her father going above Ragna's guard.

"Weaponless Technique: _GREATER-!_ "

' _NOW!'_ Blasting forward off of what little footing he still had left, the Reaper managed to barely avoid Azula's attack and left her soaring past him. While her father was still recovering from his earlier attack, Ragna turned on his heel and spun into a final roundhouse kick which screamed in the air as it-

 _ **FLOOSH!**_

Ragna had been about to hit him dead on, he could have dealt some decent damage with that attack… now he was off his feet… his guard was completely down… oh, and he was also on fire. Kind of important. Time seemed to slow around both him and Rojo, the later of whom was surrounded by an intense burst of red fire, looking just as surprised as Ragna was. Then he seemed to recover himself, ready to take advantage of the situation while Ragna's guard was still down.

"Brand Formula: _RED PHOENIX RUSH!_ "

The tattoos on Rojo's skinned burned like a raging inferno, coating the man in intense red flames as he threw his whole body in to tackling Ragna, resulting in a violent explosion when he made contact. The Reaper shouted in pain as he was blasted away violently hitting the ground while still burning from the flames. Knowing he was still in a fight, he harshly fought to make it to his feet as Rojo just stood back with his daughter, his tattoo flames still burning harshly.

"That was close; so close that I thought that you had me there," Rojo admitted to his opponent before smirk as flames continued to dance around him. "Funny, I wasn't trying to activate these things… must've just gotten lucky."

' _My damn luck stat again,'_ Ragna growled at himself. The flames covering his body were starting to fade, most likely as a result of his high _Spirit_ stat, but Rojo's attack had still left a powerful impact on him.

"But if you've seen mine…" he began before smirking as he turned to his daughter. "What say we both go all out kiddo? Give him a show worth remembering?"

"It sounds like overkill, but if that's the way you want to do it," Azula began before the tattoos on her forearms began to glow violently. Ragna started to grow worried as small cyclone of watery energy formed and surrounded her arms while spinning viciously. Ragna knew that whatever she was doing, he didn't want to be on the receiving end of that.

' _Gotta throw 'em off!'_ " _ **DEAD SPIKE!"**_

It could have been a telling move about him, Ragna knew, but he'd been pushed into a corner and he had a lot of ground he needed to make up to get back in the fight.

"Brand Formula: _WATER SICKLES!_ " **  
**"Brand Formula: _FLAME CANNON!_ "

Azula sent waved her swung her arms towards the attack and sent out several razor sharp waves of water while Rojo simply thrust his open forward and sent out a red hot blast of fire. Both sets of attacks made contact with the mass of darkness, result in an explosion of dark energy. Using that to his advantage, Ragna desperately rushed through the exchange.

" _ **HELL'S FANG!"**_

Ragna's black flamed lunge made contact with Rojo's guard, but instead of simply letting him block the attack the Reaper roared as he pushed them both forward managing to get some distance between Rojo and his daughter. It took Rojo a second, but eventually he managed to get his footing and shoved against Ragna charge. Desperately spinning into an overhead kick, the attack was dodged and about to be countered by Ragna's-

"Weaponless Technique: _FORCE SHOT!_ "

Only for the Reaper to be blasted square in the back by Azula's long distance punch. Not only did Ragna drop his attack, but now he'd also dropped his guard, which was just what Rojo had wanted.

"Brawler Skill: _PUNCHING WHIRLWIND!_ "

With no means to guard himself, Ragna took every hit of the rapid onslaught which struck just about every part of the Reaper's body. The final hit was even hard enough to send Ragna off of his feet and left him open for Rojo's stronger attack. The fistfighter grinned as his tattoos blazed to life once more.

"Brand Formula: _RED PHOENIX RUSH!_ "

Once more Ragna felt Rojo charge at him with entire flaming body and once more he felt the painful explosion of flames once he made contact. Ragna gave a harsh shout of pain as he was flung off of his feet. Flying through the air he noticed a shadow covering him for all of a second. It was Azula who had leaped into the air and had charged a titanic mass of swirling energy around her arm, larger than she was. Worst of all, she was actually grinning with excitement as she knew how much damage this was going to cause.

"Brand Formula: _HURRICANE RAIDER!_ "

Ragna felt the full force of the technique as it smashed dead into his face, the blow severely boosted by all of the energy that Azula had managed to channel. The attack sent the Grim Reaper straight into the floor with enough force that the entire town trembled at the force of the attack.

( _End Theme_ )

"RAGNA!" Ruby screamed as the Reaper's battered form lie on the ground. Azula's last attack on him had left a small impact crater where he'd made contact with the ground while leaving a long line of unearthed cobblestone as it had blasted Ragna through. Azula just gave a nonchalant shrug as she walked back to stand beside Rojo. Several of the members from the caravan were giving a victorious cheer, apparently quite pleased that they'd bet money on Azula and her father.

"He just got beat pretty bad out there…" Hyde noted worriedly before he turned his attention back to Azula who was heading back to her father. He was silent for a moment as he watched the two of them, something clearly on his mind. "Hey guys… you see that text floating above their heads?"

"Yeah… it's still a little blurry, but I'm starting to see it better now," Yu told him. "It says Rojo Icarus and Azula Icarus above each of them. Next to Azula's name is the term _Pugilist_ in italicized text… think that's her class?"

"Yeah… but what's really worrying is the number _16_ next to it… I think that's the level that Ragna was fighting against," Hyde muttered. "And then against Rojo…" He paused as he saw that Ragna's older opponent was no pushover; his class read _Brawler_ and his level was... 32. "Holy…"

"It's no wonder Ragna can't fight back; with levels like those, their techniques, and those tattoos on them…" Yu paused he noticed Ragna struggling to get out of the crater. "He… he's still going to try to fight? Is he crazy?"

Inside their fighting ring, Rojo certainly seemed to think so.

"You know, if you'd gone along with what I said and fought us one at a time you might've been able to stand a slight chance against us. Like this though… well you lost the second you tried to play it tough," Rojo said to the Reaper, sounding more disappointed than satisfied in his victory. "All this working alone is only going to get you killed, so lose the attitude and-" Rojo paused as he watched Ragna slowly managed to pick himself up from the ground, his clothes were dirty and torn slightly in a few areas and there was blood dripping from the wounds he'd gotten, and he was slumped forward from exhaustion… but he was standing all the same. "What in the hell?"

"I… I hit him dead on… and I didn't hold back," Azula noted with some horror as Ragna did nothing but stand in place and breathe shallowly.

"Hey! He should've lost by now!" one of the spectators shouted angrily, evidently having bet his coin on Rojo's team. "Get him out of here! He's just grandstanding!"

"...Wrong…" came Ragna's voice; it was low and rather quiet, but somehow it spoke with enough authority that everyone was able to hear him… and there wasn't a person that _didn't_ listen. "What were the rules?"

"You mean the rules about the destruction of town?" May asked. "I mean-"

"Not that one," Ragna spoke again, interrupting her. Had he better _luck_ he knew that the fight would've ended for that reason long ago in his favor, but of course it wasn't. "The fight keeps going until one side can't keep fighting… or gives up." He brought his head up and sent a filthy and dark grin directly at them. "Soon as they said that… _YOU LOST._ "

"That's quite a claim; looks to me like you've still got some trouble keeping yourself off the… ground?" Rojo's eyes narrowed at his opponent, keeping a careful watch on Ragna's wounds. It was a slow process, but by watching carefully enough he saw that they were slowly starting to close and strength was returning to his opponent. "Your body can heal itself? That's a nifty little trick you've got there, but you won't be able to win with that alone." The fighter and his daughter paused, both of them almost taking a step back as an odd sensation started to cover their entire bodies. Not raw power or high magic concentration; it was something far more terrifying.

"Wh… what's this feeling?" Azula stuttered, her eyes starting to show signs of terror as beads of sweat formed on her brow.

 _(Cue_ _ **ONE OK ROCK**_ _Kanzen Kankaku Dreamer)_

"Hey," Yu asked nervously to Hyde. "What's Ragna doing?"

"I..." the blonde tried to say in turn. "I really don't have a clue…"

"I-I think I know what's really happening," Ruby spoke up, surprising both boys while she looked at her partner with a strange sense of awe. The wind then picked up and sent his coat and hair flapping in the powerful breeze. "Right now… he's convinced himself that he _has to_ win."

"Let me tell you one thing; I might be a moody asshole that has to do everything on his own, I probably I swear my mouth off too much, and I'll run into fights without a plan… but if there's one part of me that I can have a damn shred of pride in…"

Ragna charged forward and slammed his fist into the _Brawler's_ guard with enough force the cobblestone around the two became badly cracked.

"IT'S THE PART OF ME THAT WILL NEVER STOP FIGHTING!"

Much like before, Azula sent a flurry of deadly water edges and forced him to drop the attack and dodge to the side. Ragna then performed a spin kick which collided with Rojo's own. Flipping his body around, Ragna managed to shift into an overhead kick that went around the _Brawler's_ guard and struck him dead in the face.

"U-Unarmed Technique: _FORCE SHOT!_ "

" _ **DEAD SPIKE!**_ "

Even if the technique hit hard, it wasn't strong enough to disrupt Ragna's attack alone;the form didn't even slow as it surged forward and crashed into Azula who grunted in pain as she took heavy damage against the bulk of darkness. Rojo had then recovered from Ragna's earlier attack and rushed to engage him.

"Brawler Skill: _PUNCHING WHIRLWIND!_ "

Having been on the receiving end of Rojo's attack twice before, Ragna now had a better idea of how to handle it. While the punches were numerous, they had a pattern and the extra power behind the last hit was especially telling. Bracing himself, only skidding back slightly after the final strike, and twisting his body he threw a kick at Rojo. The brawler tried to send Ragna off of his feet while using a full powered burst of fire from his tattoo, but Ragna had only baited the attack. Pulling his leg back, Ragna timed his lunge the instant that the flames had faded enough and struck through with a blow to Rojo's gut that made the Brawler gag at the impact. Ragna then performed a brutal haymaker on him and sent his opponent flying.

"Pugilist Skill: _LUNGING BLOW!_ "

Azula charged from right behind Ragna, rushing forward in a harsh jab that was not unlike his own _**Hell's Fang**_. The Reaper leaped into the air in order to dodge the attack and transitioned into an axe kick that struck Azula and forced her to lurch forward. Landing and letting loose a solid punch skyward, he sent her in to air before leaping again and striking her with a spinning kick to deal further damage and a midair haymaker to smash her back down.

" _ **HELL'S FANG!**_ "

Ragna lunged forward with his own signature black flame cover strike catching Azula before she even hit the floor and sent her flying back.

" _ **DEAD SPIKE!**_

He just managed to send off his only other technique in order to catch Azula and kept her airborne a while longer. Running forward he was quick enough to get on the other side of her before comboing with a high roundhouse kick that caught her in the guy before drop kicking her and sending her skyward once more. Staying where he was and charging up his power, he roared as he unleashed a single powerful blow that blasted her straight back into her weakened father who was toppled over as he tried to catch his daughter.

"That's it… I'M GOING ALL OUT!" Azula shouted as the ground started to rumble around her as he she rose to her feet. A circle of swirling mist then surrounded her before the mist formed its into violently spinning water. "Brand Technique Overdrive: _**RAGE OF THE OCEANS!**_ " The rumbling intensified, right up until all of Azula's limbs were coated in violent water vortexes.

"...What you're not stopping her?" Rojo asked Ragna who only stood before the two, clearly waiting for Rojo to do the same. "You're acting like you've got something to prove… Fine, let's see if you've got what it takes." The rumbling intensified as Rojo's own tattoos burst into flames. Everyone watching the fight could feel the pure heat the fires were generating and it just kept getting hotter. "Brand Technique Overdrive: _**REBIRTH OF THE PHOENIX!**_ " The fire on Rojo's chest coated him completely now, almost like a set of chestplate. The fire off his arms had extended, now forming flaming edge that extended from his elbows.

"Well… you get points for presentation at least," the Grim Reaper told told the two before he started running towards them which then accelerated into a full charge. "BUT LET'S SEE HOW TOUGH IT REALLY IS!"

Rojo swiped his arm at the Reaper, his extended blade of fire giving him extra range and forcing Ragna to slide in order avoid taking direct damage. Azula then charged at him with a vicious haymaker, carrying even more power than when she'd beaten Ragna down the first time. Just the power behind the attack alone was enough to rip chips off of the cobblestone ground as the attack sailed toward Ragna, forcing him to guard against it as it sent him sliding back. Rojo then follow up with a second slash with his fire blades, searing Ragna with harsh flames.

"Pugilist Skill: _LUNGING BLOW!_ "

Azula rush forward once more to bring a quick water infused strike to the Reaper's face, but he was ready for it. Sending her a heavy kick, he managed to catch her right in the face and interrupted the attack before she could land it. Rojo focused intentse fire energy to both of has palm, readying himself to unleash a great blast.

" _ **HELL'S FANG!"**_

Even if he'd have to strike through fire to stop him, Ragna didn't hesitate as he flung himself forward and smashed a darkness covered fist into Rojo face, causing his fiery aura to harshly flicker as he tried to keep his footing. The Reaper let out a roar as he drove his fist downwards, again hitting Rojo's face and sending his straight into the ground with enough force to cause an eruption of dust. The red haired brawler wasn't moving, only groaning as his fiery aura slowly faded away.

"Brand Formula: _**HURRICANE RAIDER!**_ "

Azula had launched into one final attack to knock Ragna out of the fight. Thanks to her overdrive, both the power and the speed of the attack was greatly increased as she dived the through the air right at the Grim Reaper. Gritting his teeth Ragna turned and coated his arm in darkness, pouring whatever energy he had left into that one final push.

" _ **DEAD SPIKE!"**_

Instead of emitting from the ground before him, Ranga was completely shrouded in the _Black Beast_ aura as he surged the energy towards Azula. The two warriors roared shouted as they made contact, a violent explosion eruption followed by a blinding flash of light.

(End Theme)

Everyone held their breath as the light slowly faded… Azula's strike had indeed gone through the Reaper's attack to attack him square in the chest… Ragna was in poor shape barely managing to stand as his body trembled. Both warriors were still, apparently froze in the moment that they had made contact.

"Uh… uh… err…" Azula then fell forward before him, hitting the ground with a muffled thud."Wh… what… the hell…?" Rojo himself didn't look like he'd be moving any time soon and just lay in defeat.

Though he might've just won Ragna was fighting to catch his breath, but his healing factor would make sure he was still standing for the time being. All around the arena, the spectators were silent. Not a voice was heard from them-

"YOU DID IT!"

"GAH!"

...until Ruby tackle hugged him from seemingly out of nowhere. Yu awkwardly scratched the back of his head at the display while Hyde could only facepalm; this would be about when Ragna started to swear.

"Take it easy, will ya?" he could only mutter at Ruby as she kept smiling happily at him.

' _Must be too tired to even use that foul mouth of his,'_ Hyde thought to himself. The blonde then noticed that one of the hooded figures that Ruby had noticed earlier was heading towards the two. "...Come on, let's go give our congrats to the winner."

"Shouldn't I pick up our winnings?" Yu suggested.

"You can do that later… have a little faith," Hyde told him with a smirk as he replayed the silver hair youth's words back to him. Realizing he didn't have much of a choice, Yu followed and the two approached Ragna just as the hooded figure arrived.

"That was a well fought battle indeed, I didn't think that anyone here could stand against Rojo and I certainly did think they could do so while fending off his daughter." The voice was feminine and calm, almost sophisticated to some degree. The group guessed she was a more mature adult, consider she'd almost reach Ragna's height if he were standing. The figure then moved their hand upward and arcane symbols started to dance around its fingers as it reached towards Ragna, only to have Hyde and Yu step in protectively before she could make contact. "...I'm only here to heal him; I mean no harm."

"Help Rojo and Azula then; they could probably use it more than me," Ragna muttered, knowing that even if it was impaired to all hell, his healing factor would have him in working shape soon enough.

"Your opponents already seem to be receiving the assistance they need," the enigmatic figure told the quartet as she turned to the beaten Icarus family who seemed to be recovering as two people from the towns clergy were placing hands of warm glowing light upon the wounds. Ragna recognized one of them as the green haired cleric he'd briefly spoken to two days prior. "If I may?"

Neither Hyde nor Yu parted way for the woman and even Ruby seemed to have a bit of a protective glare aimed at the woman herself. "Might put everyone's mind at ease if we could see your face," the Reaper decided to suggest, albeit with a touch of smugness.

"...I suppose I can't hide it forever," the woman said as she reached up and pulled her hood back. Despite everything that they'd already seen up to this point, the group was surprised to see the specifics of this woman's features. Long lavender hair that fell to her shoulders, clear and fair skin without a blemish and carrying minimal scarring on the face, large and bright ruby eyes which almost seemed to have a reflective gaze to them, and most telling of all; her long and pointed ears.

"An... Elf?" Yu asked as he looked to the two other hooded figures that were kneeling beside Rojo as the clergy continued to heal their wounds. "Them too?"

"Indeed… my siblings in all but shared blood," she informed before she looked down at the young Miss Rose and gave a warm smile. "A concept not lost on you I imagine."

"...How long are you going to stay there _Rubes?_ " Ragna finally asked, figuring it was time she let go of him.

"Come on, I was just excited that you were able to pull off such an awesome win," Ruby told him with a bright smile as she eventual let go. The Reaper rolled his eyes, but still managed a small smirk.

"Thanks for the offer, uh…" He then realized that even with her reveal, the Elf had yet to give them her name.

"Greluda…" she said, finally introducing herself. "And I've already heard your names from the stories the townsfolk have been telling of your exploits."

"Word gets out fast then… anyway I think I'll manage to tough out these bruises just fine," he promised her.

"I just thought that I would offer… though I do think that you could find such use in learning the spells yourself if given the aptitude." Greluda then left to join her two hooded companions while managed to slowly make his way to his feet, though with some pain over his body… and an expected groan from his stomach.

"I dunno about you all, but I haven't eaten a damn thing since breakfast…"

"Then you're overdue for a good meal," Hyde told him. "'Course if you wanted to get the best food in the village, you'd have to end up making it yourself."

"Eh, if it heals me I'm all for it," Ragna told him as he started heading for the inn the group was staying in.

"You guys go ahead, I'll catch up," Yu told them, his attention now directed to the bookie that he'd gone to earlier for his bet on Ragna. As expected the teen got his three to one payout of thirty gold (a twenty gold profit), but as an added bonus as soon as he was handed the money he say a small screen pop up before him.

 _Gained Two Ranks to Gamble_

' _Looks like I've got another skill I can invest in… and a pretty useful one at that,'_ Yu thought to himself as he closed his menu. He was going to follow his fellow teammates back to the in they were staying in, but paused when he noticed May was walking around the city and seemed to be taking note of the damage that had been caused to the town in the fight. Deciding he'd at least say hello and thank her once again for guiding them through the city, Yu headed over. "Taking notes on the damage?"

"...You're wondering why I didn't stop the fight, aren't you?" she asked, not taking her eyes up from her work.

"The thought crossed my mind, but I figured you had you had your reasons," Yu told her.

"About halfway through the battle, I realized we happen to have a decent surplus of the cobblestone needed to repair the streets already and when the Dwarves make it back into the city we can sell back the broken parts for their use," she informed him.

"That's all well and good, but won't it still cost money to pay someone to…" Yu paused as he realized May's line of thinking. "The refugees…"

"Exactly, this will be a good first job for them to earn the coin they'll need without the town having to outright give it to them…" she explained. "I suppose you could say that this fight turned out to be more profitable to the town than I had initially thought."

"I'm glad to hear it… I was actually expecting you to be angry with the damage," Yu told her. "So… up for grabbing dinner then?"

"Are you asking me to join your group… or were you hoping it'd just be the two of us?" the brown haired woman asked, trying to get an idea of Yu's thought process.

"...What would the lady prefer?" Narukami asked, giving a well meaning smile as he tried to apply his still developing _Sex Appeal_ skill.

"...Even if this is my day off, I'll be busy cataloging the damages, finding workers, and presenting the idea to the governor," May told, effectively shooting down the proposal. Yu felt a twinge of disappointment, but then noticed her small blush as she seemed to play with a piece of her brown hair. "Tomorrow though… I might be able to find some time in the evening."

"I look forward to it then," Yu told her, giving another smile before bidding her farewell. From that little exchange he'd managed to earn himself another point in his _Sex Appeal_ skill and the promise of a date the next day… despite the dangers it presented, the young Persona user was starting to like it here.

 _Later -The Journeyman's Reprieve-_

' _I'm starting to think these people will eat anything and say it's good cooking,'_ Ragna thought to himself as he finished preparing one group's meal of spit cooked chicken, baked potatoes, and weak wine. The truth was he was barely putting what he would consider a 'reasonable' amount of seasoning on anything, but the people he was serving said food to seemed to love it all the same. ' _Least my Cooking skill is has been going up smoothly enough; already reached Rank 22 with all of the work I've been giving it._ ' "Order up."

"Awesome, this should leave everyone satisfied for a while," the waitress Liza told him as she started taking plates and putting them on top of the tray. "Speaking of which, I think it's about time that you take a break."

"I can take a break later, probably going to be more customers coming in for the rush anyways," the Reaper told her, not even feeling that fatigued even with the fight he'd been in earlier. It didn't look like he had much of a choice though, as Liza then shoved a beer tankard into his hands. "...Alright, what's this about?"

"That guy you fought earlier is waiting outside for you; bought this drink for you and said that you didn't have choice," Liza told him, watching as Ragna looked into his tankard as he remained silent. "Just humor him; you can come back to work once you see what he wants."

"Do I seriously have to?" the Reaper groaned.

"You do if you want to get paid tonight!" came the call from Liza's mother at the other end of the kitchen.

"Who's the guy helping you in the first place?" Ragna grumbled to himself as he started headed outside of the restaurant, seeing Rojo and his daughter simply leaning against to outer wall. Even with the healing they'd gotten the two looked like they'd been through hell. A good night's rest would help that though.

"You know I was pretty sure I said that you'd have to treat me for a meal if I won," Rojo said as he held his own tankard of booze. "And as much as I'd hate to say it, you still managed to beat us today even if we both took you head on…"

"Get to the point already," Ragna told him rudely, crossing his arms and not taking a sip of his drink.

"We want to know why you decided to treat us," Azula told him bluntly. Like her father, she too had a small tankard of beer that she was drinking from. "We _were_ just trying to order two bowls of the stew, but then our waitress brought out bread, salad, and several other sides dishes… and told us that you were covering it."

"Dammit, I thought I told her to keep quiet about that…" the Reaper grumbled.

"To her credit she still did, we just knew it was painfully obvious who sent it," the brawler told him. "So like my daughter was asking… why did you decide to treat us?"

"...Call it a force of habit," the Reaper enigmatically admitted, taking a long sip from the beer tankard he'd been given. The taste wasn't bad, but he had never really been one for drinking alcohol. "Anything else?"

"I guess I should apologize for what I said to you on the road… but what I had to say to you still stands; capital's a dangerous place and your going to need to be a lot stronger if you're going to change the place like I've been overhearing from that town gossip," Rojo told him. "If I were you, I'd start focusing on making sure that team is ready, make sure they can back you up if it ever comes down to it…"

"...I'll keep that in mind," Ragna told him, staying passive much like he had earlier.

"There's something that I don't get though…" Azula told him as she gave Ragna a rather focused glare. "I saw that giant serpent head that the Inn's putting up on display, the same one that you they said you managed to take down with that group of yours… so why did my dad find you alone when you were fighting against the bandits?"

"...Because killing people is something that they're just not ready for," Ragna explained with a somewhat darker tone, thinking back to their first encounter with such an issue on the road to the city. "And call me whatever type of idiot you want, but even now I still hope they don't have to be…"

"...Heh, in that case I'd have to say you're the _best_ type of idiot," Azula said, strangely complimenting the Reaper as she gave an actual chuckle.

"Holy crap, she can laugh…" her father said, worrying Ragna as his surprise somehow seemed a little _too_ genuine.

 _ **Author's Note**_

 _ **So since I have until next week to get my next chapter of**_ _ **A Reaper's Awakening**_ _**out, I figured I'd take a well needed change of pace and head back to one of my favorite stories to work on. Seriously, I had a blast writing this one so I hope you get at least HALF as much enjoyment out of this as I did.**_

 _ **My love of writing aside, most of you may remember Rojo and Azula if you read BlazBlue/RWBY crossover (the one I'm still updating)**_ _ **Grimm Reaper's of Remnant**_ _ **. They're OC's that I've created to serve the purpose of side characters… but considering that anyone that isn't one of the four is an original character character in this story, their inclusion was easy to work in.**_

 _ **Alright, let's get to the review responses.**_

 _Wlyman2009_ : Ah, thanks then.

 _Medblare_ : Heh, just a bit of humor I enjoyed.

 _The Unplanner_ : I'd like Penny too, especially to see her interactions with Nu.

 _Guest (1)_ : Again, trying to keep things simple with the core four.

 _fernandamichelleraya_ : Makes me wonder what I'm going to do for Penny in _Grimm Reaper's of Remnant_ (plug plug)

 _Sr. Red_ : Eh, Monty Python's good and all, but for now I'll have to focus on representing Monty Oum.

 _Guest (2)_ : Well now, that would be an awesome anime… Might still go with Kazen Kankaku Dreamer for the opening them though.

 _Guest (3)_ : Plans for the future.

 _Guest (4)_ : Not… great?

 _trustyCounselor_ : Only Penny was missing in the official game after all.

 _3 Question Marks_ : In… Cross Tag Apartment? What, it isn't already crazy enough

 _jadasimone16_ : That they do…

 _Guest (5)_ : How about an update now instead?

 _ **Cool. FORWARD! TO THE OMAKE!**_

 _Cross Tag… Apartment?: Part 3_

' _Almost quitting time…'_ Ragna thought to himself as he hurriedly tried to wipe down the cooking counters so he could get out of his job. Working as a cook at _Paradoxe de l'amnésie_ was tough work and carried plenty of high standards for every dish. Everyone employed here knew that the restaurant's owner, Hilda, would accept only the best food to be served to its patrons… and that went double for group reservations.

It was already nearing midnight and Ragna was nearly done cleaning his station. The other cooks had already left saying that they'd come in early and clean it then. Ragna knew he couldn't leave himself to that promise and had decided to stay late, only to be _instructed_ by the head chef that it was the last cook's job to make sure the kitchen was clean for the next day.

' _I damn well better get another bonus for this…'_ he swore to himself as he finally finished with his cleaning duties. He felt sore all over and knew that this was only the start to his work week; things were only going to get worse from here. Sighing, he threw his apron over his shoulder and headed out the kitchen doors.

"Well well, I'm not the only one still here…" came a rather familiar voice. Its owner was a man that went by the name of Gordeau. Ragna saw him often enough at work, but he didn't talk to him that much… compared to his other co-workers though, Gordeau might as well be his damn best friend. While Ragna was in the back, Gordeau was always working the bar. He was a well reasoned and charming sort of person, making him a usual hit with the ladies. "So you want to join me? I was just about to crack open a couple of bottles."

"Can't… I'm already overdue to hit the sheets and having a hangover tomorrow ain't an option," Ragna told him, hoping that the dark haired man would leave it there.

"Ah come on, what's a few drinks between us? I already got the a-okay with the boss and Chaos already left. Don't leave me out to dry here, I hate drinking alone." Chaos was a waiter that worked at the restaurant. He was usually very formal, but could tend to lose his temper, especially with unreasonable customers. On occasional off days Ragna would see him at the park with _Beast_ , his giant of a dog with no easily discernible breed. "Come on man, I know you don't drive and it's cold out there. Take a nice drink and warm yourself up before you go."

"...You realize that drinking like that lowers your body temperature, right?" Ragna asked with a sigh as he realized he wasn't getting out of this. "Fine, but you better not serve me anything too strong."

"Says the guy who downed a whole glass of _Spirytus_ … I gave it to you as a joke and after the way your chugged it just to get out of the bar I thought I'd be seeing a corpse the next day, but then I see you at work bright and early without as much as a hangover."

(Note: Spirytus is a Polish alcohol with a 192 proof score. Translated, it means its 96% alcohol… Yeah, don't chug this stuff.)

"You're making it pretty damn hard to trust you right now," Ragna told the bar keep.

"Good, that's the only kind of trust worth having," Gordeau told him as he started pouring out two glasses of brandy. "So… how are the kids?"

"Fine, I guess… little knuckleheads had me up too damn early yesterday thinking that I had to go in to work, but other than that they're a breeze to take care of… Aside from breakfast though, I've barely see 'em lately…"

"Yeah, we've been getting back to back events planned here lately. I mean expanding business is great and all, but we've been getting so busy lately I'm starting to think we need more people on the staff… Must be hard for the kids if their caretaker isn't able to see 'em most of the time."

"Eh, they manage so I'm not worried about them, but…"

"But…?" Gordeau pressed, handing Ragna some brandy on the rocks.

"The few times I'm able to make it home at a decent hour they're always busy with school work. That run in with that Chie friend of yours I told you about? Far from the first time they've had to meet up after school… they work hard."

"Sounds like it, but don't sell yourself too short…" Gordeau told him. "You work just as hard as the rest of us, if not more… Though you couldn't have made things easy for yourself with Hilda's constant advances."

Their boss had something of a unique quirk or a favored pasttime that she enjoyed above all else; getting a rise out of men and teasing them to no end. With her flirty, joking, and slightly malicious attitude it was hard to determine when she was on the hunt and when she wasn't. At the moment, Ragna was proving to be a favorite target of hers since he wouldn't return any form of reaction. The only other person to have managed that was Gordeau himself, but he had known Hilda for the longest. She hadn't given up… more like she'd decided to pursue more immediate targets. Ragna was beginning to wonder if he could pull something similar off.

"You lead a hard life my friend… How the hell do you even manage it?" the barkeep asked as he wiped down a few of the glasses one final time.

"...Sometimes I gotta ask myself that question," Ragna muttered to himself.

As expected with nights like these, the trains had stopped running long before Ragna had managed to get off from work. This left him to walk the entire way back in the cold. His only saving grace was his favored red jacket which would provide him with whatever warmth it could. Signs of the nightlife were clearly apparent; cops out handing out DUI's, men guiding their dates to love hotels, and the occasional weary businessman finally making their way home after working for several days straight… something Ragna knew only too well.

Unlocking the door to his apartment, the Reaper gently opened it as he entered the residence having expected his three wards to have gone to sleep long before now. He was right… to a certain degree. The light on the kitchen was on and the three students were a seated at the table, their faces all planted on top of their homework while they slept. The Reaper sighed to himself at the sight.

"Come on Yu, time for bed…" he tried to with the silver haired student whose eyes opened for all of a minute before he slumped over again and passed out.

Shaking his head at the situation, the older man slowly pulled out the chair before hoisting the student out of it. Yu was so fast asleep he didn't wake up as his caretaker carried him to his room and set him in his bed. Hyde proved to go along just as easily, but Ruby…

"...This again?" Even in her subconscious, the young maiden had a deadly hold on his coat. Ragna gave a sigh as he knew what he now had to do. Removing the jacket, he let it go as Ruby clung it close to her person almost like a blanket. He knew he'd have to get it back from her in the morning because there was no way to get it out of her death grip now.

"Half the damn time she's using it as her own friggin blanket," the caretaker mutters to himself as he lies on his own bed, hoping for sleep to eventually take him soon. "...Dammit, I… _WE_ need a vacation."

 _ **THAT'S ALL FOR NOW! CIAO!**_


	11. Progression 1

_**Author's Note: As suggested to me in the last chapter I'll soon start having a section at the end of each chapter to where each character lies in their status. I'll also do such a thing for the previous chapters where it applies, back to about**_ _ **Rebellion the Third: Food For Thought**_ _ **. It might be a lot of information to process, but if it provides the option to help the readers I'm all for it. Also, I might be making a few small changes to the system, but it's nothing too jarring. Enjoy the chapter everyone.**_

 _ **Rebellion the Ninth: Progression 1**_

"Dammit, that was one hell of a breakfast rush…" Ragna the Bloodedge muttered to himself as he headed into the small room his team was staying in, his signature red coat slung over his shoulder as he headed into the doorway. Opening the door, he saw the three of his other teammates gathered around each other looking at their status screens in open discussion. "Care to catch me up?"

"We managed to figure some stuff out, but it's going to get harder not to bring attention to ourselves," Yu said. "Yesterday when were out with May, we managed to find that we're not the only ones around here with special stats. I mean the whole invisible screen thing still seems like its unique to us, but May had this strange object that she could create in her palm called a _Soul Scroll_."

" _Soul Scroll…_ Right…" Ragna muttered to himself. "And if it's what the people of this world are usually using, then we'd have to get those things for a chance to blend in…"

"I think we're far past the point of _blending in_ ," Ruby reminded the team. "So for now, I think our best shot is to stand out as best we can give them some hope whenever they hear stories about us!" She then gave a girlish giggle. "In a way, it's almost like I'm acting as a _Huntress_."

"Well, you _are_ one in training…" Ragna noted, leaving Ruby to send him a bright smile to show that she thought he'd given her a compliment. "I don't know, did you guys even have a plan for how to blend it?"

Kind of; and it doesn't sound like it's going to take a lot of effort either," Hyde told him before gathering visible energy in his hand. At first Ragna thought he was summoning the _Insulator_ , but that was before he noticed the energy that he was casting was purple instead of his usual red. A moment later there was a small scroll in his hands that was quite similar to the one that May had showed them the day prior. "Using just a bit of magic, you can create something that's almost exactly identical to a _Soul Scroll,_ in fact it's so close that this might be an actual one. It doesn't have our _Skills_ on it, but that was intentional on my part, since that feature seems to be a rarer one. Pretty neat, right? We can show you if you need any help making one."

"Hmph." With that small grunt, Ragna opened his palm and allowed a small blue flame to take form. Everyone around him looked in surprise as he created his own soul scroll in the palm of his hand. "Made one, now what?"

"You managed to make one just like that!?" Ruby exclaimed before pouting. "Lucky… It took me hours just figure out the magic enough to make mine."

"In my defense, this is far from the hardest thing I've ever had to cast," the Reaper explained, remembering his former ineptitude with the nigh impossible _Ars Magus_ as he looked over his personal _Soul Scroll_. "One problem we've got though; the classes we've all got and the stats I've been stuck with are kind of a tell-tale sign that something's up with us."

"It's going to stick that way, we can't seem to alter what the category shows at all. This is going to be one of those factors that we _can't_ account for, but we can try to work around it as best we can to make sure we're not spotted too early on," Yu explained. "There's still a slight problem though; when we found out about _Soul Scrolls_ from May we made it clear that we hadn't heard of them before and we wouldn't have them."

"So what's the big deal? All we gotta do is tell her that we figured out how to make 'em now that we know what they are," the Reaper told them, figuring if they were lying it was usually best to keep it simple.

"That's the problem, there's supposed to be a special ceremony called an _Inner Awakening_ that gets you these, but besides knowing that the ceremony supposedly takes place at the church we don't know much else," Hyde recalled. "You'd think that the temple priests would've let us know this before we headed off."

"Yeah, you'd think. Well we sure as hell ain't getting anywhere just by sitting on our asses," Ragna decided crassly. "Let's head to the church and figure out what we can do."

"You're moving kind of fast, aren't you?" Ruby tried to advise. "If we're not careful, couldn't we blow our cover completely?"

"First, you have no right to lecture me on moving too fast _Miss Fifty-Dexterity_ ," the Reaper scolded his young partner who tried not to look pleased at the reminder. "Secondly, we're supposed to save these people, aren't we? Even if we try to keep our pasts under lock and key, the whole secret's probably going to come out sooner or later and then what? I doubt that too many people are going to believe the whole 'other world' thing and if they do, hopefully we'll have done enough by then that they don't care."

"So… you're saying that we're making a bigger deal of this than we need to?" Hyde asked before sighing. "Well… maybe you've got a point. Back home I had only a few people that I could talk to about my powers, but here it feels like that sort of thing is common knowledge."

"Same on my end; people using Personas wasn't a common sight and even then we could usually only use our powers in a specified area or event," Yu had to agree. "Still, I'm sure that the sight of _Izanagi_ would get the attention of more than a few people off."

"Then just tell 'em it's some new form of magic; you won't be completely lying at least," Ragna said bluntly, once again electing to take the more simple approach. "If you're so worried about what everyone thinks about you, you won't get a damn thing done."

"Easy for you to say; you're not the one trying to raise your _Sex Appeal_ ," Hyde muttered.

"Or has a date to go on tonight," Yu added.

"Right or has to… wait, what?" As evident by Hyde's reaction along with Ragna's skeptic gaze and Ruby's tilted head, Yu had yet to tell anyone from his team that he had plans for that night.

"Yesterday I asked May if she'd like to grab dinner and we agreed to eat together tonight," Yu explained to his team casually. He didn't think there was anything wrong with such a thing (and in truth there wasn't), so he was a little surprised as Ragna just groaned and shook his head. "Is that a problem?"

"Nah, it's just you should remember who you are and what the hell we're doing," Ragna lectured the youth. "We've been in this town for a while already and it's high time we moved on to some of the worse off places."

"So don't go too far with her, is that what you're telling me?" Yu asked, though strangely enough he didn't appear on the defensive.

"...Shit, I can't tell you what to do; I mean I ain't your father," the Reaper muttered. "Just remember that we're going to be moving on soon and you'll be fine."

"Don't worry, most of my relationships have been like that," Yu assured him.

' _Seriously, he must move fast if he's been able to get a date already_ ," Hyde thought to himself. ' _...Maybe I should try and ask Liza out tonight myself, I mean I've been working on my Sex Appeal just as much as Yu has… Wait, this isn't some kind of competition, I don't have anything to prove… No harm in asking either way.'_

With that, the group headed down the stairs and headed to the front door, ready to get started with the days events.

"Leaving for the fields?" the group heard a familiar voice question. Turning their heads, they all saw Rojo and his daughter Azula also heading for the door out of the Inn and following them out onto the streets. "Funny, we were just about to head out ourselves. Care to work together for a day?"

"You're getting into trouble already?" Ragna asked them with an eyebrow raised. "No offense, but it felt like you took a hell of a beating yesterday."

"You're still up and fighting aren't you?" the _Brawler_ asked, giving a smile and chuckle that the Reaper found odd for a person to do after just being reminded that they'd gotten the crap kicked out of them. "I might not have regeneration like you do, but I still recover faster than most people. I had some decent healing magic cast on me and to top it all off I got a good night's sleep so I'm good to go."

"What more could you ask for?" Ruby said in agreement.

"See? The young lady gets it," Rojo chuckled to them and earning a smile from Ruby. "So how about it? Care to team up with the _Red Phoenix_ instead of treading blows with each other? I've got a personal job to take care of out there, but those shouldn't take too long."

"'Fraid we can't; we got to head to the church and get the damn _Inner Awakening_ ," Ragna told him leaving Rojo to stare at him in surprise. "What?"

"Nothing, just… you managed to beat us that badly without even doing that much? Holy shit." Rojo's swearing aside, even the stoic faced Azula looked completely bewildered at Ragna's claim. Ragna was about to simply shrug and try to brush the whole matter off… but then an idea formed in his mind.

' _Let's see… the other three made it clear that they didn't know, but what if I…?_ ' A plan in mind, Ragna channeled energy to his hand and once more created a 'false' _Soul Scroll_. "I have one already; it's these three that I gotta worry about."

"Ah, that makes a bit more sense then," Rojo reconciled. "Still though, getting everyone started with their _Soul Scroll_ is usually move one for any traveller worth their salt. Why have you held it off for so long?"

"A rumor that Ragna heard," Yu cut in, surprising the Reaper as they hadn't coordinated this plan. "Apparently there's some speculation that if you hold off getting your scroll until you're more comfortable with combat you'll get either a small boost to your level or your stats… I suppose we'll have to see today if that's true."

"Honestly the whole process is kind of a mystery to us," Hyde said, trying to give Rojo and his daughter a well meaning smile (and practice his _Sex Appeal_ skill to make his claim and eaiser sell). "Thanks to this guy we didn't even know _Awakenings_ existed until yesterday and we sure as hell didn't hear it from him. Big oversight on his part."

"Why you-" Ragna growled at the blonde. Hyde only continued to smile innocently at his lie to help the team.

"Some leader…" Azula groaned, leaving the Reaper's glare to be refocused at the blue haired miss while her father only laughed. "We should get going."

"Be careful out there," Ruby warned before shuddering. " _Spiders…_ "

' _There's Ruby and her usual crippling fear of giant Arachnids_ ," Ragna thought to himself before noticing Azula's involuntary shiver. ' _Which is shared by the normally stoic girl that nearly pounded my face into the ground yesterday? …okay then._ '

 _Heavencliff Church_

Aside from a few farmers and members of the clergy offering their prayers to whatever gods or goddesses they worshiped, the church seemed rather empty. Ragna noticed that a familiar farming couple was there, the same one that he'd had to bring grim news of their son, but he didn't see any reason why he should bother them here. This place as a whole still felt foreign as hell to the Reaper… but standing this little rundown church might be the closest he'd ever get to feeling homesick. Seeing the group enter, the familiar green haired cleric approached the group.

"Welcome to our modest house of worship, you may call me Sister Rowena," she said to the group with a calm and serene smile on her face. "Are you in need of healing or do you wish to offer your prayers to the gods above?"

"Neither, we're actually here to get an _Inner Awakening_ for these three," Ragna told her, being the first to speak since he was still _technically_ the leader.

"Oh… I see… are… are you sure that you'd like to do it here?" she asked with some embarrassment. "We do have the proper procedure, but I'm afraid it's not nearly as potent as it is in the other major cities. Perhaps you should-"

"It's a dangerous world out there, we'll have to take whatever we can get," the Reaper insisted. "...This going to take long?"

"It shouldn't, the process is a simple one which has been passed down by generations," the priestess explained. "Most of the time we charge a few silver pieces for each person undergoing the process, but perhaps just this once we could waive the fee given your deeds around the city."

"Are you sure? I mean we haven't done anything all that special," Hyde told her.

"No? With everything that you've done to protect this city this is the least we can do to aid in your efforts," the priestess assured him. "I'll go and retrieve the tomes that we'll need for the _Inner Awakening,_ just wait by the altar for the moment."

"We'll be here," Yu promised with a hint of comedy in his words as she left to gather her tomes. While the clergy woman had promised that she wouldn't leave them waiting long, in the time that she was gone Yu could only notice the looks that the four were getting from the farming couple nearby… or rather looks the couple was sending at Ragna. "I'm afraid to ask, but do you know those people?"

"...They're the parents of the kid that Liza liked," he told them, keeping his voice low so that the couple couldn't hear him and blocking his mouth with his arm as he pretended to scratch his hair so they couldn't read his lips. "I know I don't need to say anything else, but-"

"Don't bring it up; we know," Hyde finished, interrupting the Reaper. It was then that he noticed that Ruby had a slight blush on her face accompanied by a small and somewhat embarrassed smile. "Eh? What's with you?"

"When Ragna had to bring the news earlier, they sort of thought that I was his apprentice," she explained, nervously scratching the back of her head. The two high school boys stared at her in some surprise before glancing at each other and then her partner who seemed to be partial to the whole situation.

"I mean, I guess I could see it given your similar clothing styles," Hyde felt like he needed to acknowledge. "It's either that or they'd think you were his little sister." Hearing Ragna's low growl, Hyde correctly assumed that it was a sore spot for Ragna to mention siblings.

"Really? I would've thought that they'd see her as his daughter before anything else… maybe a young wife at the most," Yu input casually, earning flabbergasted gazes from Ruby and Hyde.

"...The only reason I ain't beating the shit out of you is because we're in a church," the Grim Reaper threatened the high school student, his glare didn't even need his _Intimidation_ skill for Yu to break into a nervous sweat. Hyde made a note of this _new_ sore spot as well as to never speak of it again… not if he wanted to stay on his leader's _good side_ (however much that differed from being on his enemies list).

"Sorry for keeping you waiting," Rowena said as she laid came back from the church with a few other members of the clergy as she placed a set of tomes upon the altar. "If the three will put their hands upon the tomes, then we can undergo the ceremony."

At Ragna's nod the three members of his team headed up to the altar and got a good look at the tomes that they'd be using for their false _Awakening_. Unlike the grinoires that they'd used for their real procedures, these ones looked more worn with obvious scratches and stains on the covers. Their observation aside, it all seemed very similar to the process they'd undergone just a few days prior. Placing their hands upon the objects, the clergy's hands became encased in golden light with the priestess began her chant.

"Divine powers that be, if you in your strength and wisdom should find these four worthy, bless these travelers and uncover the potential within their souls! Bless them so that they grow strong and fight for your glory!"

' _Tch, and I thought the chant back at the temple was overblown,_ ' Ragna thought to himself as he watched from afar. It was then that he noticed that the three were bathed in a golden light. Remembering the effect from the back of the church, he took this as a sign that the ceremony was going without a hitch… at least it was until he found himself consumed by the golden flames. ' _Wait, what the hell is-!?_ '

A bright light seemed to be shining in his eyes, the Reaper instinctively made to cover his eyes only to find that was his vision and mind that was going white as his surroundings seemed to be caught in a powerful tremor. The effect got further and further intense… and then it faded.

' _The hell was that?'_ the Reaper demanded as he lowered his arm while his vision returned, only to see a new screen floating in front of him. _Unable to Class Change due to Insufficient Levels_. ' _Class change? ...That's right; I'm called a CentralFiction as my class… Which means I can change that?_ '

"Th-th-that power…" the young cleric helping them noted as she stared at the three in awe. Not only were the people of the church staring at Yu, Hyde, and Ruby, but a few of them had their eyes on the Reaper, indicating that they'd seen the golden glow around all of them and that this wasn't what normally happened.

' _So much for blending in,'_ Hyde thought from the altar as he tried not to look to disappointed with the whole process. "So now what are we supposed to do?"

"I… I suppose trying to summon your _Soul Scrolls_ will likely be a reasonable next step," the priestess told the group, trying to regain her composure at the light that had been shining before her. Gather a few sparks of energy, she managed to create a small _Soul Scroll_. "It may be a difficult process, but if you-"

"FIRST TRY!" Ruby said as she looked at everyone with a beaming smile, evidently trying to make up for her difficulty creating a _Soul Scroll_ earlier. Yu had thought it might have been better if she'd shown some struggling in making their scrolls to try and save face, but there was little he could do now. Sighing, he and Hyde also created their _Soul Scrolls_ without much difficulty.

"Excellent, I see that all of you have a great many talents to display," the cleric praised as she looked at what they had created. "Though… I am curious how the gods have deemed to illustrate your powers."

"You… you want to look at our scrolls?" Ruby asked, somewhat nervously given all of the oddities the three had about them. "I mean… aren't these things supposed to be kind of private?"

"There are no secrets to be kept in the halls of the gods, for they already see and know all," the cleric told them sweetly, though Hyde felt that this was just a way of strong arming the group into showing the church what they wanted to see.

' _Even if we don't show them now, there's going to be some attention thrown our way and given how big of deal churches seem to be in this world, I don't think we should make an enemy of them this early on… besides, I doubt a small church like this one could cause too much trouble,_ ' Hyde figured as he reluctantly handed over his scroll to the woman.

"O…Oh my, you're… a higher level than what I had considered," Rowena said as she looked over the details of Hyde's scroll. "And you have a class that I've never heard of as well…"

"Lucky me I guess…" Hyde told her, trying to keep his tone as neutral as he could. The priestess then looked over Yu and Ruby's scrolls and came to a similar conclusion (though she did blanch a touch when she saw how high Ruby's _Dex_ stat was).

"I… I… see... " the cleric said, looking over the entire group as she tried to figure how to best word this. "It… it would seem like all three of you are blessed by the gods… I can't imagine what the sort of epic destiny fate has planned for each of you."

' _I'm not included in that… is fate on my side for once?'_ the Reaper thought before he remembered how ungodly low his _LUCK_ stat was. It was probably thanks to that attribute he wasn't about to be forgotten as the lady of the cloth had her hand outstretched, Grumbing, he summoned his own scroll and handed it off to the woman who only had to take one look at it before her face fell at seeing his _LUCK_ score. "So if they're blessed by the gods, then I'm just a sick joke?"

"No! I doubt that the divine have cursed you so!" Rowena tried to assure. "A test maybe… but I'm sure that if you stay true to their teachings that you'll prevail!"

' _Probably shouldn't tell her that I don't know the first thing about their scriptures,'_ Ragna thought, correctly deciding there were some things that he should try and keep to himself. "Well… thanks for your help anyways, we should get going." As soon as the group left the church, Ragna let out a loud groan.

"That totally backfired, didn't it?" Hyde asked, causing Ragna's groan to grow even deeper. "Right…"

"Someone was bound to find out about us eventually, but this isn't helping anyone..." Yu sighed. "It was a good idea to try and keep appearances up, but I think Ruby might've been right; our best strategy now is to stand out with our actions and give everyone hope."

"Yup! So it's time we started dropping the ficade and start acting like real heroes!" Ruby declared.

"At least you're into it," Hyde said with a sigh. "Anyways guys, I think I've got a good idea for our next move. You remember that elf that came up to us yesterday, Greluda or something?"

"Think so… I remember that she said something about learning magic, didn't she?" Ragna said as he thought back, recalling that she'd offered to heal him after his fight with Rojo and Azula. "You got a type in mind?"

"I think it would be a good idea if at least a few of us learned some healing spells; we don't have your insane healing factor and potions seem difficult to come by," Hyde proposed.

"...You've got a good point," Ragna said as he tried to think things through since the group was starting to see him as their leader. "Let's see… if we even need to split into teams of two, that means that we should probably at least get someone on each side that's good with healing."

"Actually, as long as we can all learn the spells we should probably all try to get the strongest level of healing magic that we can," Yu decided for the both of them. "Both back in my own world and in a lot of the RPG's you could play, the ability to heal yourself and others were more often than not extremely overpowered, especially if you had the higher versions of the spell. That could be invaluable to all of us here."

"Point taken," the Reaper admitted as he remembered the times the people from his home world had needed Celica's healing support and how invaluable it had been. "I remembered seeing them at Inn while I was cooking last night, we'll start looking there if we don't run into them on the way. How's our funds looking?"

"That's right, we forgot to go over Yu's selling with you," Ruby remembered as she slapped Yu's back and caused him to stumble forward mid-step. "This guy put a point into bartering and managed to earn us some serious cash for everything that I got from that snake and spider! We've just about doubled the gold that we started out with; we've got about 50 now."

"...That right?" Ragna said as he looked at Yu. "Nice to see you're not just using your points for _Sex Appeal_."

"Are you complimenting me or ridiculing me?" the young teen asked.

"Both, but more of the former," the Reaper said with a cocky grin before turning to Hyde. "What about you? You've been investing your points anywhere else?"

"Not at the moment," he admitted, earning a slight glare from Ruby. "Wh-what I mean is that I haven't been putting them anywhere, just that I'm having trouble deciding on where I should be putting my skills to use."

"Maybe you should be putting your points into _Survival_ , it's a _really_ useful skill," Ruby tried to offer.

"You just want me to do that so you don't have to harvest monster corpses," Hyde said with a scowl. Yu awkwardly chuckled at the spat between the two while Ragna rolled his eyes.

"Excuse me?" a new voice asked, seeming to be directed at the group. The speaker was obviously an elf from yesterday, though it wasn't Gerdula. This elf still had their hood covering their head, but the voice that had spoken to them was male and they seemed to have a slightly different body type. "Aren't you the four from yesterday?"

"The only four that anyone seems to talk about," Hyde admitted with a casual slouch. "You've got good timing though, we were actually just looking for Gerdula for some help with magic."

"...Is that so?" the figure asked, seeming to muse over his words. "Are any of you hoping to learn _Healing_ magic?"

"All four of us if we can," Yu informed. "It sounds like you have some sort of plan for us…"

"In fact I do. you see there are a few refugees in that came in with convoy that unfortunately carry diseases within them. As such we haven't let them into town and are doing our best to treat their symptoms now," the hooded elf said as guestered for the four to start following him and started leading them towards the wagons. "Right now the best we can do is use our healing magic to treat their symptoms, but the only way we can truly cure their diseases is to wait for Rojo to bring back the root we need."

"So that's what he meant earlier when he said something about a personal job," Ruby realized, thinking back to the offer the Brawler had made them that morning about working together. "But does that mean that _Healing_ magic can't cure diseases?"

"There are some spells that can, but they're difficult to learn and costly to one's pool of mana," the elf explained. "There were likely a few churches back at the capital that could perform such service… but I doubt anyone in this town could afford those prices."

' _Churches in the capital don't sound nearly as charitable as the one in this town,'_ Ragna thought to himself with a shred of hatred forming. Even if they were in the middle of nowhere, Ragna knew the type of person that the sister was. She wouldn't have hesitated for a moment to help someone in need and she wouldn't have accepted any type of payment, feeling that the ability to help someone was all the reward she needed. Compared to the church he was hearing about now… it rubbed him the wrong way. ' _Soon as we finally make it to the capital, that's the first thing I'm fixing_.'

 _The Refugee's Medical Tent_

Sounds of congested coughing echoed throughout the tent, many of the victims lay sweating in their cots and a fair few had painful boils on their faces. The elf from the day prior, Greluda, was attending to the patients where they could along with a few of the clergies from the churches. Yu in particular hated the sight, seeming these people sick in their cots only brought back one of the biggest scares back during the investigation.

' _I can't let anything like that happen again,'_ he decided with conviction, walking up and approaching Greluda. "What can I do to help?"

"Help?" she asked with some surprise as she turned to the hooded elf that had brought them here. "So then…"

"No luck, and I asked around about anywhere you could expect to find the medicine. It might mean that they don't know how to make it, but more hopefully they haven't needed it until now." He gestured to Ragna and the others. "Silver lining, I found some help for you until Rojo gets back with the ingredients we need. They all want to learn _Healing_ magic, so helping us here would be mutually beneficial."

"That depends on how quick they are as studies," Gredula said as she cast a _Healing_ spell upon the patient in front of her. Receiving the light, their boils seemed to shrink slightly and their pain induced sweating seemed to lighten. "Quickly now; how high are each of your _Spirit_ stats?"

"44," Ragna told her with confidence. ' _I might want to arrange those levels I got from yesterday's fight.'_

"20," Yu cut in with his perfectly balanced stats. (No, I'm not doing a Thanos meme.)

"14," Hyde said, sounding a little disappointed that he was on the low end of the spectrum.

"...12?" Ruby told her awkwardly, having invested most of her stats into Dexterity was starting to bite her.

"...Seems that we have quite the split," she said, quickly heading over to one of the chests and bringing out two tomes before thrusting them into Ruby and Hyde's hands. "You two, read those. They'll teach you how to use the basic healing spells." Both of them nodded, sat down at a nearby table, and began reading as instructed. "Both of you come with me." Ragna and Yu both followed Gredula to and elderly man covered in boils and sweating profusely. "You saw what I had tried to do earlier? I want you to cast a healing spell on him."

"Eh? Already?" Yu asked with some surprise. "You want us to mimic you just like that?"

"Only because your stats can allow it," she explained. "All spells have two diffrent thresholds for casting; one for learning the spell through study, and using the skill by copying an example. The spell that I'm using Healing Spell the First: _Minor Cure_ has a stat learning requirement of 10 Spirit and a mimicry level of 20. Since you two meet the requirement, the both of you can learn this spell by just watching me, though it might take a few tries."

"And you want us to practice it on the sick?" Ragna asked, glancing to the man in pain in front of him. "Doesn't seem like the best way to practice. If we screw up here-"

"You'll just heal them for less; there's a reason that healing magic is so popular. It's safe for even the most inexpeirinced casters and there's hardly a risk involved in casting it as long as you're not stupid and don't overexert yourself," she explained. "Now then, try channeling your magic and speak the name of the spell."

' _First time in a while that I've actually tried 'fixing' something,'_ Ragna thought to himself. Channeling his energy into his left hand, he held it just over the sick man in front of him. A bright cobalt light appeared from his hand and seemed to coat the sick man. His boils seemed to fade slightly, but for whatever reason he started to grimace harshly.

"Huh… Guh… GAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" the man screamed in agony gripping his face as he continued to yell. Ragna took a shocked step back as Gerdula rushed to the man's side, trying to cast healing spells to heal his pain, but to no avail. His harsh screams last for several minutes more before he fought to catch his breath, his face crimson and drenched with sweat.

"What the… what the hell did I just do?" Ragna asked, feeling more than a little uncomfortable than what he'd done. All eyes in the tent were staring at him, looking at the pain he'd caused to an already suffering man. Even the rest of his team was looking at him with a touch of discomfort at what their leader had done.

"That shouldn't have happened," Gredula said, quickly dampening a washcloth and placing it on the sick man's forehead. "I've never seen a healing spell do that. In fact I've never seen any spell cause that much agony to a person before; it should be impossible."

' _Then it's my damn LUCK stat or…'_ Ragna didn't say anything, but he did glance to his black _Azure Grimoire_ gloved hand. He'd even cast the spell though his other hand, but it was possible this thing was interfering with his spell work. Gritting his teeth, he headed out of the tent in a huff.

"Sorry about that," Yu tried to tell Gredula. "Ragna wants to help… but he's sort of been given an odd draw with his abilities. I don't think he was trying to do something malicious."

"...I doubt that he was, but come here and take a closer look," the Elven healer instructed, beckoning Yu closer. "Do you still see the boils on his face?"

"I… I can't," Yu said as he had to look especially close. "Did Ragna just cure his disease?"

"No, now matter how strong it was that particular spell wouldn't have been enough to remove it complete, but the level of healing magic that this man's been given he's going to remain stable for quite a while." She paused as she mused over the events. "The ability to heal this much is certainly there and it reflects his high Spirit stat, but with the pain he's causing with it… implies something troublesome about that man, to say the least."

"Do you mind if I keep trying to practice?" Yu asked. Gerdula gave him an odd sort of look as she'd thought the news would have at least fazed him. "I'll be fine, I have a little experience with healing and I've never had that happen to me. Besides, you still need help don't you?"

"That I do, but are you sure that your leader's going to be okay? He seemed less than pleased when he left."

"He'll be fine," Yu assured her as he headed over to one of the sick youths and raised his hand. "Healing Spell the First: _Minor Cure_." His own golden light didn't cure the patient quite as much as Ragna's spell had, but the youth did seem to relax as both his sickness and pain seemed to lighten. "He's probably just going to need a bit of time to brood to himself."

Now that the drama had seemingly come to a stop, it was up to Hyde and Ruby to read through the old texts in an attempt to master the basic Healing spell. Progress seemed to be slow between the two, as these texts weren't exactly the most hands on approach and it was hard to understand some of the diagrams and text based explanations of channeling magic in a way that would result in healing. Sure, using something like a Semblance and Aura was easy for Ruby and Hyde had experience channeling his Exs, but the process of casting magic in this new world just felt… foreign.

"Come on…" Ruby said to herself as she looked over the tome whilst trying to channel the _Healing Spell_ with her free hand. Her hand was cloaked in only the lightest of crimson glows as she tried to control her flow of 'mana' as the book called it. Feeling that she just about had the channeling right, she tried her best to hold her power there as she began performing the incantation. "Healing Spell the-!"

There was a sudden cracking sound as Ruby's spell seemed to shatter right in her hand. The young huntress gave a pained yelp before gripping the hand she'd been casting the spell with. It didn't look like it had taken any physical damage from the failed casting, but it was already starting to go numb.

"Doesn't look like you _first tried_ that one," Hyde noted with a short sigh as he tried reading over the book himself. Ruby shot him a piercing scowl. "At least you're able to make some sense of this; even if I can read it it's all Greek to me."

"...Greek?" Ruby asked, coming from a different world than Hyde had. "I can't really say I get it either… more like I'm just trying to learn by practice than by than hitting the books."

"Most beginning mages are like that; more theater than theory," Gredula told them from while trying to assist one of the sick women; helping keep their head up as she gave them water. "You should have seen me when I first started learning, any excuse I could take to show off, I would. I gave my father more than a few headaches from showing off."

"With healing magic?" Hyde asked with a small laugh.

"Not back then…" she admitted awkwardly, implying experience with a more destructive force. "Your stats are high enough to imply an aptitude with the spells, but you'll still need to hone that talent through study. Even your friend here isn't casting the first spell perfectly with his higher _Spirit_."

"As long as I can help someone, I'll focus on that first," Yu said as he continued to cast his healing spells over the weaker of the patients. Giving a sigh, he did his breath to catch his breath from the taxing effort. "Both of you keep studying, I'm going to need your help as soon you have the basics down."

"Soon as we're able to," Hyde promised as he tried channeling his purple magic himself, Taking a deep breath, he steeled himself for the feedback as he finally cast the spell. "Healing Spell the First: _Minor Cure_." It wasn't as strong as Ragna's had been or even Yu's for that matter, but it was managing to hold its and he could practically heal the calming energy coming from it.

"...Lucky try," Ruby insisted with a pout as she started her second attempt at casting the magic.

 _Later that Evening_

"And there's the sick tent now," Rojo muttered as he and his daughter passed through the town border, done with their day hunting around the forest. Neither of the two seemed any worse for wear, though they certain didn't have all of that webbing covering them when they'd left. "But damn, that took a lot longer than I wanted it two. With all those spiders around we barely had any time to actually look for the _Beggar's_ _root_."

"...Hundreds of them," Azula said with a shiver. The number was a _slight_ exaggeration with her fear of spiders, but the creatures did appear to be growing in number at a rather astonishing rate. "I hope everyone's okay…"

"Gerdula's been looking out for them all day; they'll be fine," Rojo assured her… even though he partially had to assure himself of the matter. Even if Gerdula would do everything in her power to make sure that nothing would happen to the sick, there were several people needing her assistance and she was just one person. Even Elves had their limits in magic, and it was almost certain that she'd be exhausted after the day she'd had to go through. If he'd known that even the stores around here didn't carry and of the Beggar's Root he'd have held off his fight with Ragna until this had been settled… because any loss of life laid solely at his feet.

"Dad. In front of the tent."

Rojo had been so taken with his thoughts that he almost didn't see Ragna right in front of the tent until he was right in front of him. The silver hair Reaper was sitting right in front of a large cooking pot which he was watching intently as a pot of campfire stew cooked over a small fire. A small cutting board, a basic dagger, and some wooden bowls and spoons lay off to his side along with some leftover potato peels and bits of meat. Taking a sniff of the pot, he gave it another stir.

"Didn't expect to find you here," Rojo said. Ragna didn't say anything in response, only glancing his way for a short second before returning his attention to the pot. "...Don't you usually work at the Inn around now?"

"Sick need to eat too," Ragna told him bluntly, giving the pot yet another stir. "How'd your hunt go?"

"Got what we needed at least," Azula said as she took out the large chunk of beggar's root they'd found from her pouch. "Wasn't easy to find this, but it'll at least cure their minor diseases."

"Those are minor disease?" Ragna asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Minor doesn't mean that they're not still deadly," the brawler explained to him seriously.

"True enough, but what about those with tougher diseases to cure?" The Reaper's answer was a collective silence. "Right…" Looking at the both of them, Ragna took a glance at the _Beggar's Root_. There wasn't much that made it look different than any other root out there, but something about it seemed to interest Ragna. "...You're really sure that'll do the job?"

"It better, this took us all day to find," Azula told him. "They're not in for an easy night though; once this enters your system it'll kill the diseases afflicting you, but it also puts you in a fever like state for several hours… It's tough medicine to swallow."

Again, Ragna didn't say anything at first and only stared at the root in her hand. "...Mind if I see that for a second." Azula only glanced to her father, who gave a slow nod. Taking the root in his own hand the Reaper looked over the ingredient for another long moment. Abruptly, he grabbed out his knife and proceeded to skin the root in seconds.

"Hey what're you-!"

Ragna didn't pay any attention to her, only moving on to cut the large root into pieces so small her was practically mincing it. Rojo and Azula watched slack jawed as he dumped it all into his stew pot.

"Thanks for that," Ragna said with the smallest of smirks on his face as he gave the pot one last lengthy stir. "I thought this was missing something."

"You… you… you idiot!" Azula yelled at him, though Ragna didn't seem to care much as he continued to stir the pot. "We just told you how long it took us to get that root and dump it in as a spice!?" Again, Ragna didn't say anything as he proceeded to fill up a few of the bowls with his stew. "You better go out and get these people some medicine after what you just-!"

"Shut up, grab some bowls, and start serving," Ragna instructed as he entered the medical tent, leaving Azula and her father to stare on blankly. Inside he got a few nervous looks from the sick and clergy, but he couldn't be bothered "Food's ready, everyone here gets a bowl."

"That's… kind of you to offer," Gredula told him nervously as his partners continued to run around a continue healing. "But I'm not sure anyone here is well enough to keep the food down, you might've wanted to make something lighter."

"They'll keep it down, trust me on this one," Ragna told her as he walked over to the old man who he'd tried curing earlier. Even if he'd had healing magic cast on him since then, his horrid boils were already starting to return and he was painfully sweating… that or he was sweating because Ragna was back. "...Sorry about before." Shoving a bowl of stew into the man's hands, he once more left the tent.

"Okay… this one's not the listening type at the moment," Gerdula noted. That was when she saw Azula and Rojo entering the tent seeming less than pleased. "How did-?"

"Fine, until a certain idiot decided that it would go good in a pot of stew," Azula said with a low growl.

"...You're kidding."

"She's not," Rojo said with a tired sigh. "I'm not saying he's the easiest guy to read in the first place, but doing something that stupid and careless is just… dangerous."

"That's one word for it; I've got _countless_ others," Azula said, developing a bit of an attitude now that she was annoyed. "So what now?"

"There's not much else we can do now," Gredula told them both with a sigh. "If it took you both this long just to find one root there's way you'll be able to find another before night falls. I'll just have to keep healing them and the church for more support. In the morning we'll-"

"Uh, Gredula?" came Ruby's voice from beside the elderly man with the boils. "You might want to come look at this." Sighing as a new complication arose, the elven healer made her way over to the young huntress, only to stop when she got a good look at the patient. "See, the boils seem to be… Gredula?"

"Rojo. Azula. I need the both of you to make sure everyone gets a bowl of that stew, you two included." The brawler and his daughter were confused at the suddened command, only to see that the sick man's boils seemed to be slowly vanishing as he ate. "I don't know what that man just did, but it's working."

 _Later -Town Gates-_

"I hope everyone's going to be alright," Hyde muttered to the rest of the four. "Those illnesses seemed pretty severe when we came in."

"I think they should be fine," Yu told them. "Gredula was saying saying how much better their complexions were and how some of them looked like they could just get and walk out those beds. And they don't even seem to have those fevers she was warning us about." He turned to Ragna. "How did you know that putting the medicine in the stew would work like that?"

"I didn't and normally I doubt it'd ever work that easily," he informed. "Remember my first cooking skill _Soul Food_? That one already has a chance to cure status ailments, so I figured doing the same to a disease wouldn't be too out there. Add my Substitution skill to mix the root as an ingredient and I think I might've managed to amplify its healing."

"So since you couldn't use healing the tradition way through magic, you managed to sneak on by with your cooking instead?" Ruby asked. "Huh, well I guess that's one way to get around your abysmal luck."

"Yeah, I guess just gotta find another way out of a jam when this pops up," the Reaper agreed. "How did the magic training go?."

"Good enough I guess," Hyde told him a bit underwhelmed. "It took Ruby and I a while to get our healing spells down and even then they're nowhere as good as Yu's. I think we're going to have to rely on him on healing us."

"Not that you're lost causes, your spells were certainly looking stronger by the end of it," Yu assured him. "It's just something that we're going to need to keep practicing. Like anything in this world."

"You mean like how you still have to practice dating?" Ruby teased, sticking her tongue out. Ragna actually had to chuckle at her behavior. "Kind of surprised that you didn't run off on us and try to get your date with May in early."

"I'm not that self centered on dating," Yu assured. "If I had to stand her up so that I could heal those people until Rojo came back with the medicine, then I was prepared to do that. She'd understand."

"Probably," Ragna agreed, before smirking at the youth. "That's not going to stop you from bragging that you helped out though, right?"

"Well ...I wouldn't go that far," Yu admitted, scratching the back of his head as his leader saw through him.

' _Yeah, I'm DEFINITELY asking Liza out tonight,'_ Hyde promised himself.

 _Meanwhile_

Much as any Draven City, _Brinkstone_ was a well defended and finely crafted home within the mountains. Dwarves were short, stout, and hardy but many of them were also prized artisans in their craft of stone working. Everybit of masonry work in the city had been made with patience and dedication. Small crystal rocks carved out of the mountain's natural resources served as lighting throughout the town's streets and inside some of the houses. A large marble fountain sat at the center of the town, not only as another work of beauty but also to provide the entire city with water it collected from the subterranean streams.

This was beautiful, but it was also safeguarded as well. The only way in or out of the city was through a small mountainside cavern. As soon as that small passageway opened up you'd find yourself face to face with the first layer of the town's defences; a giant wall supported with crossbow wielding arches in the sides and barrels of flammable oil on the top. To challenge it with anything less than an army would be suicide… which left the Dwarves stationed there wondering just what the long figure approaching them was doing.

"An impressive sight to behold. No wonder the ancient ancestors built the castle largely off of dwarven design. With this type of work, the stones might hold for an eternity."

The approaching figure musing to itself was dressed in a hooded brown cloak which itself was of superb craftsmanship. Black leather gloves covered their hands and their dark traveling boots were without a trace of dirt. Their face was covered with crimson mask, etched with black arcane markings. Aside from this nothing could be seen of the figure as it slowly approached, continuing to take in the marvel of the architecture. It might have continued to do so, if the Dwarves had decided that they'd had enough and fired a single crossbow bolt. It sailed through the air, impaling itself in the stone floor just in front of the figure.

"And so we begin," the figure said to itself with a hint of whimsy. "That's an odd way to say hello! Is this a custom or am I simply a special case?"

"No one gets any further than this wall! These are our lands and you won't be entering!" came a dwarf's voice from one of the sniper positions. "Turn back or the next shot won't be at your feet!"

"Charming as always these things," the figure muttered, holding its mask as they shook their hooded head. "Please reconsider, I've traveled far to come here and I'm weary from the journey! The least you can do is give me a little food before turning me away so quickly!"

"Don't make me repeat myself! Leave here now!" a different dwarf shouted.

"I don't think so. I've traveled this far for a good meal…"

A sudden mass of darkness surged by the masked figure with a shrill scream. Slamming into the wall, the stone easily gave way under its massive bulk. The cries of battle sounded from inside the fortress wall, only to be followed by screams of agony and gruesome snapping of bones. The snipers atop the wall didn't wait another instant, letting loose a volley of countless arrows. The air around the figure surged and became powerful winds that tore any arrow that came close to shreds. Thrusting their arm forward, the figure pointed to a certain spot in the wall and caused a violent explosion with the force. The archers in the area were either torn to shreds or blasted out to a long fall to the ground.

"...and there's plenty of good food to be had here," they continued. From behind, a countless hoard of spiders came into view and slowly closed in on the Dwarven town. When the figure waved their hand forward, the creatures charged forward into the opening into the town in a pure stampede with their numbers. Screams began to emerge from around the town as the spiders laid siege; the larger ones breaking through the walls and crushing knights while the small ones chased after their new food source. The figure chuckled to themselves at the sound. "Let the feast commence."

 _ **Author's Note**_ **:**

 _ **Well this is a fine how do you do. This story was asked for an update by one of my readers so I though I'd do my best to focus on this chapter. Anyways, let's move onto the reviews before heading into the Omake.**_

 _A Special Kind of Stupid:_ I'm working on it. First I'll get this chapter out, but I'll be going back and filling out the information on a chapter by chapter basis. Stay tuned for the edit.

 _Jadasimone_ : Yu would be the type of person to say that, wouldn't he?

 _Guest (1)_ : And another one.

 _Wlyman2009_ : I've… considered it.

 _Guest (2)_ : The thing is he _can't_ use those abilities just yet.

 _EnteTheSlayer_ : Thanks for the support.

 _Hehe_ : Nope, just a serious no BS character really.

 _3 Question Marks_ : It doesn't exactly have to be crazy…

 _The Unplanner_ : Hyde's just not sure where his talents lie at the moment. I'll find something for him.

 _fernandamichellerayaoon_ : Eh, he'll just have to work it through.

 _Althea Sirius_ : If my plans to keep this long running hold, quite a few.

 _Sr. Red_ : I might do a reflection chapter for everyone soon enough.

 _Guest 2_ : Sure I guess, and for Rojo the only voice I'd take is the legendary Ian Sinclair.

 _Just a Penguin_ : Speaking of smash leaks, any good ones?

 _Almighty Lord_ : So about villains…

 _ArcherShirou_ : Thanks for the several reviews thusf ar, hopefully the long wait didn't kill it for you.

 _Kyugan_ : Big brother impulses are hard to shake off.

 _ **ON TO THE OMAKE!**_

 _Cross Tag… Apartment?: Part 4_

"Chie… you stay that close to hot pot the steam's going to make your face all red," Yukiko warned as Chie continued to watch their Hot Pot like a hawk… moreso the beef in said Hot Pot. The innkeepers words fell on deaf ears (obviously), so she instead turned her attention to the second hot pot that was filled with tofu. "I hope it's ready soon…"

"Oi oi, you keep staring at it like that it's never going to cook," Ragna told her as he sat on the couch, reading the newspaper and enjoying an evening cup of coffee. "Shouldn't you all be studying anyways?"

"What do you think we've been doing for the last three hours? This is our break damn-ARG!" Yosuke looked like he'd wanted to say something else, but he was a force to grip his ribs as they flared up in pain.

"Seriously, who the hell did you piss off that could do that to you?" Had Ragna's eyes not been focused on his paper, he might've taken notice of everyone in his apartment looking directly at Chie.

"Even still, we'll all have a lot more studying to do after this," Yu said, glancing to all of the books resting on the kitchen table. "Now matter how much we read, there are more and more books and after that there's even more writing… like it's a never ending cycle."

"Tell me about, now I'm convinced that Kawakami's just being sadistic," Hyde said with a sigh.

"HAH! Dodged it!" came Ruby's victorious shout as she hammered on the video game controls.

"What!? No fair! That Blue Shell was supposed to hit you!" Weiss shouted as she continued to try and rush after in fourth place.

"Quit shouting dammit! I'm trying to focus!" Kanji shouted as he too stayed into it, trying to grind along the boost pads of Luigi circuit.

"All you have to do is wait for an opening… and strike!" came Naoto's voice as she let loose a lightning bolt and breezed through the players at the last second, taking first with Ruby inches away from the finish line.

"No fair! Item hog!" Ruby shouted.

"Honestly, it's just a game," Linne sighed as she sat off to the side texting on her phone. "Can't you calm them down?"

"Believe me I've tried," Orie sighed. "Few things can get as competitive as a game of Mario Kart."

"How bad do you think it is when the four of us play?" Ragna muttered as he finally put the paper down (nothing too interesting that day). "Looks like we're about ready on the Hotpots. I… Chie?"

"I don't want any," she sighed to herself. Everyone seemed to still with unease as they looked at the normal carnivore who was only laying on the ground. "The beef's probably not that great anyways."

"I… is she serious?"

"She looks like she's lost the will to live."

"Oh man, Chie…"

' _Perfect, just as planned,'_ she thought, trying to hide her demoness smile. ' _All I need to do is keep this charade up a little longer. It might be hard, but if I can possibly get the first pick of Ragna's prepared meat it'll all be worth it.'_ "Just save me some Tofu… I'll try to snack on that later… If I'm hungry"

"Something's wrong with her, very wrong!" Yosuke realized, backing away in terror. "I… if she doesn't start acting normal, made I can give her some of mine…?"

"Hey Chie?" Ragna cut in with dark tone. Turning to the host, she found herself at the receiving end of two red and green scowling eyes. "Don't try it. I've seen _Gintama_ so I know how this Nabe charade plays out."

' _BUSTED!_ '

"Wait, so that's what she was trying to do!?" Yosuke then realized, also having watched that Hot Pot episode. "You little-! … But by that logic, doesn't that mean that the small. strong girl is the one that gets it all in the end anyways?"

"...Just what are you implying?" Linne demanded, seeing all eyes land on her in suspicion.

' _Try to invite everyone for a Hot Pot and this is what I get? Yare yare…'_

 _ **Short but sweet! Until next time! Ciao!**_


End file.
